V.NarayanMumbai: A 41-year-old Lieutenant Colonel from the Indian Army fell victim to a cyber fraud, losing Rs 1.28 lakh while attempting to publish his thesis papers on Artificial Intelligence (AI) for his PhD. The officer, stationed in Delhi with family residing in Andheri, was at his Mumbai residence when he searched for journal publication websites. He discovered and contacted two websites in June 2024. The fraudster demanded Rs 69,000 and Rs 59,000 for publishing in the ‘International Journal of Human Computer Interaction’.The Andheri police registered a case against an unidentified person on Wednesday after the officer discovered the fraud when his thesis remained unpublished. A police officer stated they are tracking the Internet Protocol (IP) address to identify the website creator and the perpetrator who established the fraudulent journal website.The army officer, residing in Andheri with his spouse and two children, was working towards his PhD in ‘Artificial Intelligence’ (AI) with two research papers. His complaint stated: “To obtain a PhD degree, I have to submit research papers that must be published in an international journal. For this, I searched for an international journal online. While searching, I found a website. I called a person named Sompal, whose name was listed on the website. The accused promised to publish the research papers in an international journal. Sompal said that the first research paper would cost Rs 69,000 and the second Rs 59,000. I agreed and made the payment.”The complainant transferred an initial payment through an online gateway to Sompal’s account on July 30, 2024. The authorities reported that the fraudster sent an acceptance letter via email, purportedly from editor James R Lewis. The officer submitted the second research paper with the remaining payment on Nov 30, 2024. After three months of non-publication and continuous excuses, he realised he had been deceived.In Feb, upon investigating the authentic journal’s helpdesk through alternative sources, the officer discovered that the website was fraudulent and unconnected to the legitimate international journal.
