A bunch of tech-savvy boys with the gift of the gab and get-rich-quick dreams. A whole lot of gullible people clueless about digital transactions. And a tech explosion that connects the backwaters to the world.
As India changes at a dizzying pace, phishing gangs in Jamtara earn the remote district in Jharkhand the sobriquet of India’s cyber-crime capital. That’s what the Netflix series Jamtara: Sabka number ayega, which debuts on Friday, is all about.
The trailer shows how a group of youths trick people of huge sums by impersonating bank officials and getting them to divulge their card numbers and OTPs, a politician who gets wise and wants a part of the pie, and a woman cop determined to stop the con racket.
Jamtara’s cyber criminals have cheated personalities such as Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan, Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh’s wife and politician Preneet Kaur, bureaucrats and businessmen.
Once famous for being the last home of Bengal’s towering social reformer-scholar Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Jamtara, and especially its Karmatand town, is now notorious as a phishing hub.
Not just viewers, even top cops of Jharkhand police and intelligence agencies are waiting for this web series based on Jamtara’s cyber criminals whom former state chief secretary Rajiv Gauba had once referred to as “digital India’s underbelly”.
Police say that the charges against the hackers are the regular Section 419, 420 of the IPC (cheating by impersonation and cheating), 468 and 471 (forgery for cheating and using forged document as genuine), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and Section 66B, 66C and 66D of the Information Technology Act.
On the Netflix series, Jamtara SP Anshuman Kumar, who was posted here in June last year, said he’d “certainly try and catch the series if I get time”.
“It has to be seen how close the web series is to reality,” he said. “In the last two or three years, Jamtara police have been able to control cyber crime. Conviction rate has increased. Last year, 69 cyber crime FIRs were filed at police stations of the district. A total of 109 cyber criminals were arrested, including the dreaded Sitaram Mandal. We don’t wait for the victim to approach the police and file an FIR, there’s a dedicated 24/7 team fighting cyber crime. We have recovered Rs 16.81 lakh, 14 cars and 30 bikes,” the SP said.
The SP added that cyber crime was on everywhere in the country but Jamtara got infamous as cyber criminals here targeted some top personalities.
A senior police official who had been posted in Jamtara to control cyber crime said phishing gangs play with the victims’ psychology.
“These guys are smart. They don’t make phone calls from homes, they call up victims from deserted places such as fields and forests to ensure their calls are not traced. Posing as bank officials, they get details of the victim’s bank accounts, ATMS and siphon off the entire money. Their way of speaking is so natural that it inspires confidence among victims,” the cop said.
He added he was looking forward to watch the web series. “I want to see if the makers have got the nuances right.”
Not just Karmatand, Naraipur in Jamtara is another hotbed of cyber crime. Neighbouring Deoghar, famed for its Baba Baidyanathdham and temple tourism, Dumka and Giridih are not lagging behind, either.
An Enforcement Directorate officer who has worked in some cyber crime cases said the money trail was huge. “I was shocked to see the palatial houses that the accused have built, often in the middle of a dusty, poor locality. The young boys from lower middle class families live lavish lives with the phishing money before they get caught. I want to see if the web series has captured this aspect.”
DSP (Ranchi cyber police station) Sumit Prasad hoped the web series did not make the lives of the youths too glamorous. “Big money, girls, these can sway youths. I will watch the series as a cop to see if the makers have portrayed the police in a bad light or shown anything that can incite youths to take up cyber crime. If we find anything objectionable, we will raise the matter.”
There’s another group of people who are eagerly waiting for the series. Prashant Harsh, an engineering student, said he received a call from a person about some problems my bank account was facing. “I was almost about to give my account number when a slight background noise made me suspicious. Later, I learnt that the call was from Jamtara. I’d love to watch the series.”
