Kerala: Konad MLA Santhakumari Targeted In Cyber Fraud Attempt
She filed a complaint with the District Police Chief and the Cyber Cell. She confirmed that no money was lost in the attempted fraud.
Published : March 7, 2026 at 12:00 PM IST
Palakkad: Kongad MLA K. Santhakumari was targeted in a cyber fraud attempt in which scammers impersonated police officials and tried to extract personal information from her over the phone. The incident occurred on Friday morning, and the conversation reportedly continued for nearly two hours.
Following the incident, the MLA filed a complaint with the District Police Chief and the Cyber Cell. She confirmed that no money was lost in the attempted fraud.
According to Santhakumari, the call came to her official phone number around 10 AM, with the caller introducing himself as an officer from the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS). The caller, who spoke in English, claimed that one of her documents had been registered in Mumbai and that her phone number had been found during the investigation of an accused arrested in the Pahalgam attack.
After some time, she received another call from a person claiming to be SI Suresh Kumar from the Thiruvananthapuram Cyber Cell headquarters. The second caller spoke in Malayalam and told the MLA that a case had been registered in her name, asking her to provide more details. ''The second caller's Malayalam was not proper,'' she said.
The fraudsters later attempted to make their claims appear credible by initiating a WhatsApp video call, pretending to be police officials. During the call, they asked the MLA to move to a quiet place and answer their questions.
They also asked for her Aadhaar card number, which Santhakumari initially shared. However, suspicion arose when she noticed irregularities in the conversation.
Sensing that it could be a scam, the MLA’s driver contacted the Kuzhalmannam police station to verify the call. The police informed them that it was a fraud attempt, after which Santhakumari immediately disconnected the call.
The fraudsters reportedly tried calling again several times, but the MLA did not respond. She later filed an official complaint with the district police chief and the cyber cell. Police have registered a case and launched an investigation into the incident.
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