Ranchi, Feb 7: As Valentine’s Week starts with promises of love, roses, and heartfelt commitments, cybercriminals are also gearing up to exploit emotions for financial fraud.

Amidst the celebration of romance, authorities are stepping up efforts to protect people from falling victim to “romance scams.”

To counter these digital deceptions, the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), under the Union Home Ministry, has launched a special awareness campaign on social media, running parallel to Valentine’s Week.

Using the hashtag #RomanceScamPreventionWeek, officials are spreading crucial information to help people identify and avoid online scams disguised as love.

The Jharkhand Police has also joined the initiative, posting alerts on its official social media handles. One of the campaign’s eye-catching posters, shared on the I4C X handle, poses a thought-provoking question: “What will you do if your online sweetheart asks you for money?”

The post further warns: “This romance season, don’t get duped in the name of love! Join Cyber Dost in Romance Scam Prevention Week and learn how to outsmart scammers.”

Authorities are urging people to stay vigilant and report fraud immediately by calling 1930 or lodging a complaint at cybercrime.gov.in.

A cyber police officer in Ranchi highlighted a recent case where a woman fell prey to a romance scam. She met a man through a matrimonial site, exchanged numbers, and began building a connection. The man planned a visit to Ranchi, but just before their meeting, he claimed he was detained at Delhi airport and needed urgent financial help. Believing his story, she transferred Rs 7 lakh — only to realise later that his profile had vanished without a trace.

With online romance on the rise, the cyber police’s message is clear — Trust your heart, but verify with your mind. Don’t let emotions cloud your judgment — because in the digital world, not every love story is real.

Jammu, Feb 7: Five Pakistani terrorists were killed on Friday in a landmine blast near the Line of Control (LoC) while trying to infiltrate into Indian territory in Jammu and Kashmir’s (J&K) Poonch district.

Official sources said that the five Pakistani militants were killed in the landmine explosion while attempting to infiltrate across the LoC in Battal sector of Poonch.

They said that the Pakistani terrorists were attempting to infiltrate into Indian territory when one of them stepped onto a landmine.

“One of them stepped on a landmine, triggering a huge explosion that killed all five terrorists. They were also carrying an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) with them, which also exploded, adding to the damage,” sources said.

The LoC area has been fitted with landmines by the Indian Army to prevent infiltration by the terrorists.

In addition to night vision devices, electronic surveillance and human preparedness, the landmines are an important part of the anti-infiltration mechanism in J&K.

Usually the area close to the LoC is called ‘no man’s land’ thereby signalling that nobody should tread on this land.

Security forces and the Indian Army have heightened vigil along the LoC and the hinterland in J&K as very less snowfall this season so far has left all mountain routes used by the terrorists open in the UT.

Union Home Minister, Amit Shah chaired a high level security meeting on J&K recently.

The Home Minister advised security forces to ensure ‘zero infiltration’ and ‘zero tolerance’ to terrorists.

The meeting was held in the backdrop of the recent murder of an ex-serviceman, Manzoor Ahmad Wagay by terrorists in Kulgam district of the Valley.

The retired soldier’s wife and daughter were injured in the terrorist attack.

There was a political uproar in J&K after the ex-serviceman’s killing as local politicians of the ruling National Conference, Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party criticised the Centre for claiming normalcy in the UT.

Mumbai: In a major breakthrough, against the drug trafficking syndicates operating in India and especially in Mumbai, the Narcotics Control Bureau Mumbai Zonal Unit busted a major drug syndicate in Mumbai.

This seizure was a result of concerted effort made by the team NCB Mumbai on the leads developed during a recent previous seizure of 200 gms Cocaine in the month of January, 2025. After working on the leads generated in this case and through technical and human intelligence, the NCB MZU was finally able to reach at the source of the contraband and 11.540 kgs very high-grade Cocaine, 4.9 kgs hybrid strain Hydroponic Weed/Ganja and 200 packets (5.5 kgs) of Cannabis gummies & Rs.1,60,000/- were recovered from Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra on 31.01.2025.

In this case, the initial recovery, from an international courier agency in Mumbai, was from a parcel which was destined to Australia. NCB MZU was able to backtrack the supply to the bulk quantity, which was concealed at Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra. Investigation conducted so far revealed that this syndicate is being operated by a group of people based abroad and some quantities of the seized contraband were sourced from USA to Mumbai and being sent to multiple receivers in India and abroad through courier/small cargo services and human carriers. The persons involved in this case are anonymous to each other, using pseudo-names for day-to-day conversations on drug dealing.

In this case, four persons have been arrested so far. Further, the investigations to identify the backward and forward linkages of the drug syndicate are underway.