New Delhi: In the recent tweet of Union Minister of external affairs Sushma Swaraj, it appears that many Indians living legally in Britain are getting “fake calls” saying they will be deported.
An Indian-origin girl named as Reshma Halder who reside at London alerted external affairs minister Swaraj that she received such a phone call from a phone number listed on the UK Home Office’s website.
Here is her quoted tweet:
@SushmaSwaraj – Mam received a call from 02070354848(Uk home offc numb displayed on website) informing me that I will get deported 1/3
— Reshmi Halder (@reshmihalder) March 23, 2017
The reply of Union Minister made it sound like other Indians, too, have reported receving such calls. “All such calls are fake”.
Here is the reply of Sushma Swaraj:
All such calls are fake. I am sending this to Indian High Commission in London to follow this up with the police. @HCI_London https://t.co/3cHWFlmdQQ
— Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) March 24, 2017
The woman living in London added in her tweets that the phone call was “due to some crime (that) got reported in India” and that her employer confirmed with the Home Office that “the call was fake.” She further said the caller “threatened” her saying they will “send police” to her address.
@SushmaSwaraj – today from London due to some crime got reported in India. My employer confirmed with home office that the call was fake.2/3
— Reshmi Halder (@reshmihalder) March 23, 2017
@SushmaSwaraj – The caller also threatened me saying that they have all my details and will send police to my addrss 3/4
— Reshmi Halder (@reshmihalder) March 23, 2017
Such incidents have been earlier reported as being part of ‘fake call centre crimes’ or hate crimes.
The number of victims of religious and racist hate crime rose almost 20 percent, to 16,618, from 14,004, and victims of faith hate saw an 18 percent increase, to 2,000 from 1,699, within the same time period.
Yesterday, police identified the man who carried out a terror attack in London a day previously as one Khalid Masood , a 52-year-old born and brought up in Britain. In the attack, which ISIS claimed responsibility for, an assailant ploughed a car through a crowd of pedestrians and then stabbed a policeman outside Britain’s parliament. Five people, including the assailant who was shot dead, were killed in the London terror attack and more than 20 were injured, many “catastrophically”.