Archives for 2024

Scammers often use AI voice clones to con commoners to transfer money or disclose financial information but it’s rare when they try to impersonate a billionaire. This is exactly what scammers tried to do by cloning telecom czar Sunil Bharti Mittal’s voice to scam his executive in Dubai to transfer money.

Fortunately, the executive was smart enough to realise Mittal won’t ask for such a huge money transfer and the scam was stopped in its tracks.

On Monday, speaking at the NDTV World Summit, Mittal cited the incident to caution people about the risks posed by misuse of emerging technologies like AI.

Mittal recounted how the said executive stationed in Dubai received a fraudulent call that seemed to mimic his voice and tone and directed that a large fund transfer be done.

The official who was vigilant and “sensible” immediately realised it was a scam, Mittal said admitting that when he heard the voice recording himself he was completely “stunned” as “it was perfectly articulated just as I would speak”.

“And anyone who would not have been vigilant may have done something about it,” Mittal said and warned that in future misuse of technology would enable fraudsters to go a step ahead and misuse digital signatures, even replicate faces on zoom calls to perpetrate such acts.

“We’ll have to protect our societies from the evils of AI, and yet we have to use the goodness of AI, because those companies, and nations that will not adopt AI will be left behind. So this is a conundrum for every time you get a new technology into place, there are pluses and minuses. I remain very optimistic about the benefit of AI that the human race will achieve and be able to do jobs which are otherwise very difficult to perform,” Mittal said.

It is pertinent to mention here that advent of tech era, powered by AI and digital tools, has armed economies and businesses with transformative powers. That said, it is also being misused blatantly by online scammers and fraudsters to dupe unsuspecting public.

There are umpteen instances of fraudsters nudging victims to click on malicious links, or using deepfakes and voice cloning for scams.

The sophisticated web of AI-powered deceit makes it harder to spot online scams, and fraudsters have been known to clone and mimic a person’s voice from even short audio clips nicked from video a person may have uploaded online.

Scammers then leverage the AI-cloned voice to pose as the person and demand money from friends and family.

At the same time, scammers are also using ‘digital arrest’ modus operandi, where they place audio or video calls, falsely pose as law enforcement officers, and use online intimidation to confine victims to their homes for extortion.

These elaborate and sophisticated scams involve cybercriminals using fake documents, replicating virtual courtroom or police stations as a backdrop, to place victims under ‘digital arrest’.

Recently, SP Oswal, chairman and managing director of Vardhman Group was defrauded of Rs 7 crore by a gang which posed as officials from various government agencies.

Gopeshwar: Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district administration on Monday said the reports of a community being asked to leave Khansar valley before December 31 by the Vyapar Mandal are false.

In a statement issued, Chamoli District Magistrate Sandeep Tiwari said that the president of the Vyapar Mandal had clarified that he had taken out a public awareness rally to get the administration to verify the outsiders who were setting up stalls in the Gairsain area.

“Its objective was to ensure that no untoward incident or law and order problem takes place in the area,” the statement read.

Tiwari said that the situation in the area is cordial and there is no tension of any kind.

In a meeting called on Wednesday last week to discuss the increasing criminal activities in the district, the Vyapar Mandal and local of Maithan had allegedly warned the people of a particular community living there to leave the area by December 31, failing which they and their house owners would be fined.

People from other villages of Khansar valley also attended this meeting.

Maithan Vyapar Mandal President Baldev Singh Negi had allegedly said that for some time now, criminal incidents, especially related to women, are increasing in the entire district and the involvement of people of a particular community is being seen in them.

Negi had allegedly said, “We held a meeting on this issue and unanimously passed two resolutions. First, people of other communities living here were given time till 31 December to leave the area and second, people coming to the area in the name of the ferry were banned from staying here after 31 December.”

He had allegedly said that this decision was taken in view of the incident in Nandanagar and then Gauchar in Chamoli district and the increasing number of hawkers and people of other communities coming to Khansar Valley without verification in recent times.

However, all these alleged statements are said to be false, a press release from the Chamoli district administration said on Monday.

Maithan, a remote village in Gairsain tehsil of Chamoli district bordering Almora district, is located in the Ramganga valley on the road going to Bachhuwabar from Karnaprayag-Nainital National Highway.

New Delhi: Customs officials have seized over Rs 15 crore worth hydrophobic weed from a woman passenger at Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport here, the department said on Monday.

On the basis of specific information, baggage of an international transit lady passenger travelling from Bangkok to Paris via Delhi by different flights on Sunday was brought to the customs scanning machine. Upon scanning the checked in bag, the officers “noticed/detected some narcotic substance”.

“Thereafter, the on duty dog of Customs K9 squad was called for sniffing the baggage. The duty dog indicated the presence of narcotics substance. The bags were opened in presence of the said passenger as per the procedure, wherein 15.046 kg of greenish brown substance appearing to be hydrophobic weed was recovered from the baggage. The recovered goods have been seized under NDPS Act, 1985,” the customs department said in a post on X.

The passenger has been detained for further questioning and investigation is in process, it said, adding that the value of the seized substance is Rs 15.04 crore.

Ranchi : Several BJP leaders, including three former MLAs, joined the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) weeks ahead of the assembly polls in the state.

The former legislators who switched sides on Monday were Lois Marandi, Kunal Sarangi and Lakshman Tudu. The development also comes barely two days after three-term BJP legislator Kedar Hazra and AJSU Party leader Umakant Rajak joined the JMM.

“We joined the JMM today,” Sarangi, the BJP’s former spokesperson and ex-Baharagora MLA, told PTI.

Lois Marandi, a former BJP legislator, had in 2014 defeated Chief Minister Hemant Soren by a margin of 5,262 votes from Dumka.

Soon after Lois embraced JMM, Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren welcomed her to the party.

“We heartily welcome former BJP Vice President and senior leader respected Lois Marandi Ji to JMM family,” Soren posted on X.

In 2019, Soren won the Dumka seat by a margin of 13,188 votes. He, however, vacated the seat and retained the Barhait constituency.

His brother Basant Soren had defeated Marandi by over 6,842 votes in party stronghold Dumka in a bypoll.

Sources said Lois Marandi in a letter to BJP state president Babulal Marandi has drawn his attention to the “neglect” of committed workers like her and rising factionalism in BJP.

She has mentioned how the BJP for the first time won Dumka, considered a JMM bastion, in 2014 since Independence.

Sarangi had in July resigned from the party’s primary membership, around a month-and-a-half after stepping down from the post of Jharkhand unit spokesperson.

He sent his resignation letter to BJP Jharkhand unit president Babulal Marandi, citing various organisational and people-oriented issues in East Singhbhum district.

Sarangi had also expressed disappointment with the party leadership’s “indifferent approach” despite his efforts to highlight crucial issues.

He had said, “I resigned from the spokesman’s post hoping that the party leadership would address the concerns I raised, but nothing has happened yet.”

Lakshman Tudu in 2014 had defeated JMM’s Ramdas Soren from Ghatshila constituency by a margin of 6,403 votes.

Others who came to JMM-fold include BJP leaders from Seraikela — Ganesh Mahli, Basco Besra and Bari Murmu.

Three-term BJP legislator Kedar Hazra and AJSU Party leader Umakant Rajak joined the JMM on October 18.

Elections to the 81-member Jharkhand assembly will be held in two phases – November 13 and November 20 – with the counting of votes scheduled for November 23.

Filing of nomination papers for the 43 assembly constituencies going to polls in the first phase began on Monday, with three nominations submitted so far.

In total, 2.60 crore people are eligible to vote in the assembly elections.

Bulandshahr (UP) : Six people died and three were injured following an oxygen cylinder blast which led to a partial house collapse in the Sikandrabad area of Bulandshahr district, officials said on Tuesday.

District Magistrate of Bulandshahr Chandra Prakash Singh said the incident occurred on Monday evening in the house of one Riyazuddin in which around 19 people, including women and children, were living.

Riyazuddin was involved in shuttering work — the process of giving support and stability to concrete during construction work before it becomes solid.

The initial death toll was five which increased to six in the early hours of Tuesday. City Magistrate Chandra Prakash Priyadarshi said six bodies –“ three male and three female — were brought to the district hospital.

According to officials, those dead were identified as Riyazuddin alias Raju (50), his wife Rukhsana (45), Salman (16), Tamanna (24), Hivja (3) and Aas Mohammed (26).

DM Singh said, “A cylinder blast occurred in the Ashapuri colony of Sikandrabad between 8.30 pm and 9 pm leading to the collapse of the entire house.” He said eight residents were taken to the hospital while others were safe.

Additional Director General of Police, Meerut Zone, Dhruva Kant Thakur said information about the casualties was received, after which rescue and relief operations were launched immediately.

Personnel of the NDRF, fire brigade, police, medical and the local administration were involved in the rescue work, he said.

“Chief Minister (Yogi Adityanath) took immediate cognisance of the incident. We were sent to the spot and directions were issued that good quality treatment should be given to the injured persons,” the DM said.

About the rescue operation, he said the iron beams of the roof of the house had to be pried open using gas cutters. At the same time, an excavator was pressed into action to clear the debris.

On Tuesday morning, Senior Superintendent of Police of Bulandshahr Shlok Kumar told PTI that the rescue operation had been completed at the site.

Although the surviving family members have said that no one was trapped under the debris anymore, the rescue teams took all precautions while carrying out their work, he added.

“A total of six persons have died and another three suffered injuries in the blast because of which the front portion of the double-storey house collapsed,” Kumar said.

The wife of Riyazuddin was undergoing treatment for an ailment at a hospital and was recently brought back to the home, where the family had brought an oxygen cylinder along with its accessories to help in the post hospitalisation care, the SSP said.

“This oxygen cylinder exploded. The cylinder its nozzle, etc have been recovered from the debris.

The bodies have been sent for post-mortem and further legal proceedings in the matter are underway, he added.

Journalist Gauri Lankesh murder accused Shrikant Pangarkar (L), Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde (R)

Mumbai: The Shiv Sena led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has stayed the appointment of Shrikant Pangarkar, an accused in the 2017 murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh, to any post in the party in Jalna district.

Ahead of the Maharashtra assembly polls, Pangarkar joined the Shinde-led Shiv Sena on Friday in the presence of party leader and former state minister Arjun Khotkar.

Khotkar earlier said that Pangarkar, a former Shiv Sainik, has returned to the party and has been nominated as the chief of the Jalna assembly poll campaign.

A statement from the Shiv Sena on Sunday said that if Pangarkar has been given any party post in Jalna district, the decision has been stayed.

Lankesh was shot dead outside her home in Karnataka capital Bengaluru on September 5, 2017.

A probe by police in Karnataka with assistance from agencies in Maharashtra had led to the arrest of several persons.

Pangarkar, a Jalna municipal councillor of the undivided Shiv Sena between 2001and 2006, was arrested in August 2018 and was granted bail by the Karnataka High Court on September 4 this year.

After Pangarkar was denied a ticket by the Shiv Sena in 2011, he joined the right-wing Hindu Janjagruti Samiti.

Khotkar earlier said he wants to contest the assembly poll from Jalna, but added that seat-sharing discussions in the Mahayuti (ruling alliance comprising Shiv Sena, BJP and Ajit Pawar-led NCP) were underway.

The seat is held by Congress’ Kailash Gorantyal.

The Maharashtra assembly polls will be held on November 20, while results will be declared on November 23.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi

Varanasi (UP): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday accused the Congress and Samajwadi Party of practising nepotism to the extent that they overlooked Varanasi’s development, and called on the youth from “non-political” background to join politics.

He said that the “dynasts” have harmed the country’s youth the most.

The PM, who kickstarted developmental projects worth over Rs 6,700 crore in his parliamentary constituency from Sports Complex, Sigra during his one-day visit, said that till 10 years ago scams worth billions used to be in the headlines, “but it is no longer the case.”

“The country is facing a huge threat from pariwarvad. They never believe in giving opportunities to the youth. That is why I appealed from the Red Fort about bringing one lakh such youth of the country into politics whose family has nothing to do with politics. This is a campaign to change the politics of India. This is a campaign to eradicate corruption and ideology of pariwarwad,” he said.

The PM urged the youths of Uttar Pradesh, especially Varanasi, to become part of the “new politics” with an open mind. “Kashi has once again become a witness to giving new momentum to the nation,” he said.

Modi alleged that Varanasi was shortchanged for a long time by earlier governments which believed in furthering their interests.

“What was the mentality due to which Kashi was deprived of development? Remember the situation 10 years ago, Varanasi had to yearn for development,” he said.

“Why did those who ruled the government for a long time in Uttar Pradesh and decades in Delhi take no care for Varanasi? The answer is – nepotism and politics of appeasement. Be it the Samajwadi Party or the Congress, the development of Varanasi was neither their priority nor will it be in future. The BJP government runs on the ideology of ‘sabka vikas’,” the PM said.

“Today, in just 125 days, the start of work worth over Rs 15 lakh crore is being discussed in every household,” he added.

Modi said his government has two major goals – to increase the convenience of the people and to give people jobs.

“Today, new highways are being built in the country, railway tracks are being laid on new routes, and new airports are being built. This is not just a work of stone and iron, but it is increasing the convenience of the people and creating jobs for the youth,” he said.

Earlier, Modi inaugurated RJ Sankara eye hospital being run by the Kanchi Math.

The hospital will benefit people of 20 districts of eastern Uttar Pradesh as well as those living in the border areas of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh, according to people associated with the Kanchi Math.

Among the projects, 16 development projects worth over Rs 3,200 crore are in Varanasi.

The PM also laid the foundation stone for the extension of the runway, construction of a new terminal building and allied work to be done at Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport in Varanasi at a cost of approximately Rs 2,870 crore.

He said that from 70 airports in 2014, there are now more than 150 airports in the country.

“We are also renovating old airports. Last year, new facilities were built at more than a dozen airports in the country. Ayodhya also has a grand international airport welcoming Ram devotees every day.

“Just think, those were the days when Uttar Pradesh was taunted for its bad roads. Today, UP is known as a state with expressways. It is the state with the maximum number of international airports.

“A grand international airport is also going to be ready soon in Jewar, Noida,” Modi said praising the Yogi Adityanath-led state government.

Modi credited his government for the reservation of women in legislatures and ending the practice of triple talaq.

“We gave constitutional status to the OBC commission, gave 10 per cent reservation to the poor without snatching anyone’s rights,” he said.

Mumbai/New Delhi: As many as 25 flights of Indian airlines received bomb threats on Sunday, causing hardships to hundreds of passengers and forcing authorities to move scores of planes to isolation bays at airports concerned for detailed checks.

The developments came a day after more than 30 flights of various Indian carriers received bomb threats. This week, nearly 100 flights received threats sending security agencies into a tizzy. The threats later turned out to be hoaxes.

Six flights each of IndiGo, Vistara, Air India and Akasa Air, and at least one flight of Air India Express received the threats on Sunday, according to sources.

In separate statements, an IndiGo spokesperson said the airline is cognisant of a situation involving flight 6E 58 (Jeddah to Mumbai), 6E87 (Kozhikode to Dammam), 6E11 (Delhi to Istanbul), 6E17 (Mumbai to Istanbul), 6E133 (Pune to Jodhpur) and 6E112 operating (Goa to Ahmedabad).

Passengers of these flights disembarked safely.

Vistara said it got security threats for six flights — UK25 (Delhi to Frankfurt), UK106 (Singapore to Mumbai), UK146 (Bali to Delhi), UK116 (Singapore to Delhi), UK110 (Singapore to Pune) and UK107 (Mumbai to Singapore).

“In line with the protocols, all relevant authorities were immediately notified, and security procedures, as directed by them, are being carried out,” a Vistara spokesperson said in a statement.

Security alerts were received for six Akasa Air flights — QP1102 (Ahmedabad to Mumbai), QP 1378 (Delhi to Goa), QP 1385 (Mumbai to Bagdogra), QP 1406 (Delhi to Hyderabad), QP 1519 (Kochi to Mumbai) and QP 1526 (Lucknow to Mumbai).

“Following defined procedures and thorough inspections of six aircraft, they have been released for operations,” an Akasa Air spokesperson said in a statement.

The sources also said there were threats for at least six flights of Air India flights. There was no comment from the airline.

An Air India Express flight IX481 from Kochi to Dammam received the bomb threat and the flight landed safely at Dammam, the sources said.

On Sunday, a handle on social media platform X that had issued bomb threats to some flights was blocked.

Against the backdrop of bomb threats, mostly through social media, to airlines, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) held a meeting with representatives of airlines on Saturday.

The civil aviation ministry plans to put in place strict norms to prevent incidents of hoax bomb threats to airlines, including placing the perpetrators in the no-fly list.