Online scams are very common nowadays, if you open any newspaper, every day you will see the news regarding online scams. No one is spared from these scams be it young or old, a well-educated person or an illiterate villager. Even famous personalities and highly educated people from govt organizations and the private sector are not spared from these scams. So, what exactly these scams are and how can we save ourselves from these fraudsters, Let us know more about it, in this article.
First, let’s understand different types of scams that are prevalent currently, they are:
1. The Lottery Bait: You get a message saying that you got a huge amount of money and are asked to click a link to claim or call for more details.
2. Customer Care Swindle: Fraudsters place fake customer care no. on clone website, face book and other social networking sites. You call the no and an executive asks for you to share your WhatsApp screen or download a remote access app like any desk or ISL Light. He also asks you to make a test payment and sees your PIN as you type it.
3. Courier Delivery Packet: You receive a package that you have not ordered and may be asked to pay for it. When you refuse, you are asked to provide the cancellation code sent to your phone, once you do that it’s back to some fake customer care.
4. Digital Lending App: They first hook you with cheap loans, but then use exploitative tactics to recover the money, which includes threat to upload your morphed pictures, calling you contacts etc.
5. Fake Drug Parcel: Conman Posing as a narcotics officer calls to say that a package in your name contains drugs and threatens you to pay up or face action.
6. The Distress Call: You get a WhatsApp call from an unknown WhatsApp no. bearing the profile picture of a relative or known person asking you to transfer money to bail them out of some financial distress. Now scammers, through AI-based apps, create a voice or video of someone known to you and ask for money for some financial distress situation.
7. Reselling site Scam: Someone poses as an Army or well-reputed person responds to your ad on a reselling site and sends a spoof screenshot of payment. When you say that you have not received the payment, he makes you to scan a QR code and upload the screenshot. Money, instead of getting credited gets debited.
8. Electricity /Utility Bill Scam: scammers send fake text messages that say your electricity bill is unpaid and that your power will be disconnected if you don't pay immediately. When you call they tell you to click the link to update their payment or pay a small token amount to get it updated in the system by clicking the link, as soon as the receiver clicks on the link in the message or believes the message and takes action, the scammers can steal money from their bank.
9. Sextortion Business: Crooks approach you through Facebook, whatsapp, or other social networking sites luring to you a Whatsapp video chat. They then use deep-nude tools to morph your images and blackmail you.
10. The SIM card swap: Suddenly your phone network goes blank and you get a call saying you have to press a number to regain it. If you do you activate the SIM card that the cyber thief has swapped.
11. Deepfake: Now a new type of scam has come up wherein scammers make video calls where a Police Man in a Police Station background setup asks for money to settle some case against you. Through AI and deepfake apps, they make videos of some actual police officers to blackmail people.
12. The Job Scam: Advertisers lure people with very lucrative job offers like work-from-home jobs by clicking/liking some videos etc. / typing work and get paid or sometimes job in big MNCs in foreign locations etc. They demand money in the name of registration/security deposit etc and then disappear after paying a small amount initially. Sometimes they also demand your KYC documents and can open fake accounts in your name.
A few common tactics used by Scammers:
· Scammers are always in urgency, they don’t give you time to think rationally.
· They ask you to reveal your personal details which nobody asks.
· They persuade victims to download a remote access/ screen-sharing app to read their phone
· They request to make a token payment via Paytm or net banking to see PIN or password.
· They ask you to scan a QR code that debits money from your account
What to do when you have been duped:
1. Immediately call your Bank customer care and inform the bank regarding the fraud happening to you and also freeze your debit/credit card and net banking mandate. Take the complaint/request no for reference.
2. Call 1930, the cyber helpline or file an online complain at www.cybercrime.gov.in. you can also visit the nearby cyber crime police branch if you are a victim of fraud.
3. Change PINs and Passwords of all the online accounts.
4. Run a diagnostic to delete the suspect apps or malware.
Some Do’s and Don’t to avoid these scams:
Do’s
1. Always visit the official website of Bank/Merchant to get correct contact details of the company.
2. Keep your contact details updated with Bank to get transaction alerts.
3. Secure your Debit/Credit Cards and set daily limits for transactions.
4. Use strong and different passwords for banks and e-commerce websites.
5. Report unauthorised debit transactions to Bank.
And Don’ts
1. Enter the UPI code or PIN or scan the QR code to receive payments. For receiving money you are not required to do any such thing,
2. Save your user ID or password in the web browser of your device
3. Click any link shared through SMS/Whatsapp/email etc typically threatening to block your account.
4. Download third-party apps with the assurance that they will help to resolve your complaints /grievances.
5. Share your login ID/password/OTP/CVV etc with anyone claiming to be a bank representative.
Finally, all these phishing/ smishing tactics prey on basic human frailties of greed and fear. We need to think rationally when this kind of situation comes in and not make any hasty decisions. Not answering stranger’s calls and messages is one of the basics we can do to avoid these types of scams.
