Pune: State police department has appealed to citizens to not panic and not forward any messages regarding the calls made from numbers starting with '40' and '140'. Investigations have revealed that the viral video of a police constable on social media platforms asking citizens to not accept such calls is not true and calls from such numbers are usually telemarketing calls. Police have also warned citizens to not share any personal or card details with any such number or other unknown numbers too as that confidential information leakage might lead to cyber frauds.
Meanwhile, an OTT platform too had played pranks with citizens by making audio calls using the telemarketing numbers in which the person claimed to have witnessed a murder. The OTT platform later clarified that it was a "test activity gone out of accidentally". However, these two separate incidents created panic among citizens about the incoming calls starting with 140 number.
The @MahaCyber1 handle on Twitter microblogging platform is the official account of Maharashtra Cyber, a nodal agency for cybersecurity and cybercrime investigation for Maharashtra state.
In one of its tweets, Maharashtra Cyber has stated, "It has come to our attention that Sony Liv, a tv channel has used a tactic for the promotion of its new show by calling people and playing a disturbing voice recording. If you receive any such call, please do not panic and create rumours. We have instructed the channel to cease this promotional activity immediately."
In another tweet, Maharashtra Cyber has also said, "There is a video clip doing the rounds on social media of a police constable telling people not to accept calls from numbers starting with +140. We would like to clarify that numbers starting with +140 are telemarketing calls. In any case, and in ALL cases, People should NOT share their confidential banking or personal details or OTP with such callers."
Edited by:
Khevna Pandit
