Varanasi: Cybercrime investigations in Varanasi have revealed that several offenders with little or no formal education were able to cheat educated victims by using psychological manipulation, urgency-based messages and impersonation tactics. Police said 103 cybercriminals were arrested over the past two years, with nearly 30 percent of them found to be uneducated or minimally educated, while educated victims accounted for nearly 70 percent of those cheated.
Psychology Used To Trap Victims
According to police findings, cyber fraudsters increasingly relied on human behavior rather than advanced technical skills alone. During interrogation, several accused reportedly admitted that they studied victim psychology and used concepts described as “brain mapping” to understand fear, greed and urgency-driven responses.
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Investigators said these methods helped fraudsters pressure victims into sharing sensitive financial details. Fake links, cloned websites, bank or telecom impersonation, KYC update messages, credit card verification calls, electricity bill warnings and reward point offers were among the common methods used.
Victims were often told that their accounts, SIM cards or services would be blocked unless immediate action was taken. Police said this sense of urgency pushed many people into revealing OTPs, banking credentials or clicking malicious links, resulting in quick financial losses.
Networks Trained Recruits Across States
Police said many of the arrested accused had limited schooling. Some were completely illiterate, while others had studied only up to primary level or left school after secondary classes.
Despite this, investigators found that the accused were able to run fraud modules after receiving training from organised groups operating across states. Such networks reportedly trained recruits in places including Jharkhand, Odisha, Delhi and Rajasthan.
The training, which lasted between three and six months, focused on communication skills, trust-building, digital fraud methods and bank deception tactics. After training, offenders were deployed with mobile phones, laptops and portable internet devices, allowing them to operate from temporary locations.
Police said the accused often worked with larger syndicates that supplied bulk contact databases. In some cases, a single operative allegedly called 35 to 45 people a day, using different scripts depending on how the target responded.
Cases Show Pattern Of Social Engineering
Investigators cited several cases to show the spread of such methods. In February, police arrested five people in a ₹42 lakh cyber fraud case, where three accused were reportedly uneducated but had targeted a teacher and a businessman.
In another case, police busted a gang operating in the name of overseas job placement services. Two female members of the group had reportedly not studied beyond class 10. A separate case involved a group posing as legal sureties and using forged letterheads, stamps and fake Aadhaar documents to fraudulently secure bail, with two arrested accused also found to be uneducated.
Cyber experts said the cases show that modern cyber fraud depends heavily on social engineering, not formal education. Police have urged citizens to verify unsolicited calls, messages and links before sharing personal or banking information, adding that legitimate institutions do not ask for sensitive credentials through phone calls or messages.
