Tag: Online Scam

  • 61-Year-Old Woman Falls Victim To Cyber Fraud, Loses Rs 6.56 Lakh |

    New Delhi: The advantages and efficiency brought about by technology and digitalization don’t need to be discussed, but the risks it poses becomes talk of the town these days. Scammers are introducing new ways to ditch people or laymans. You may have gone through such incidents in which scammers poses custom officials and ditch commoners.

    What Happened This Time?

    In the latest incident, unknown cybercriminals masquerading as representatives of the Delhi police and Customs Department defrauded a sixty-one-year-old woman. (Also Read: How Much Return Will You Get By Investing In SBI’s FDs? Check Here)

    According to the police, the woman received a call from someone claiming to be from the Customs department, telling her that her name had been used to smuggle drugs from Delhi to Cambodia. (Also Read: ICICI Bank Revises Service Charges For Savings Accounts: Check New Rates And Effective Date)

    They even gave her Aadhar number to further establish their legitimacy as legitimate Customs officers.

    She was then informed by the fraudsters that her bank accounts had also been used for money laundering, and they requested that she deposit Rs 6.56 lakh from her account to have this verified. They assured her that the money would be returned following verification.

    The 61-year-old lady, according to the authorities, just makes ends meet with her rent money. She received a video call on April 15 from someone claiming to be from the Customs Department.

    The caller informed her that a package containing drugs had been transported from Delhi to Cambodia using her personal information, including her Aadhar card.

    To further convince her that the caller was a Customs officer and that her Aadhar card had been used fraudulently, they even provided her with the number of her Aadhar card.

    The caller advised the complainant to come to Delhi and file a complaint with the local police after she denied any involvement in drug trafficking, according to a police official.

    Shortly after the chat ended, she received a call from a few more unidentified individuals posing as representatives of the Delhi Police Crime Branch.

    The officer continued, “They informed her that her bank accounts had been compromised for money laundering and advised her to have the accounts validated by the Reserve Bank of India. The refundable fee for the same was ₹6.56 lakh.

    Fearing legal action, the woman went to her home branch in Kandivali and used RTGS to transfer the money to the bank accounts that the accused had provided.

    The accused people assisted her with the transfer and kept in constant contact with her until the money was transferred, the officer continued.

  • Delhi Police Shares Easy Tricks To Spot Fake Online Banking Messages |

    New Delhi: With the increasing prevalence of online scams, government agencies are stepping up efforts to raise awareness among the public. Recently, the Delhi Police took to social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to share images demonstrating how to identify fake online banking messages.

    Spotting Fake Messages

    The Delhi Police cautioned that scammers may use Cyrillic Script to conduct phishing attacks. Therefore, they advised users to carefully examine the URL of any link before clicking on it to avoid falling victim to such fraudulent schemes. (Also Read: Veg Thali Becomes Expensive In March, Non-Veg Cheaper: Check Rates)

    The Dangers Of Fake Links

    The police shared two images illustrating how seemingly genuine messages can pose a serious threat. By using Cyrillic Script, scammers can create links that closely resemble the URLs of legitimate bank websites, tricking unsuspecting users into divulging sensitive information. (Also Read: China May Use AI Content To Influence Lok Sabha Polls, Warns Microsoft Report)

    How Scammers Operate?

    Clicking on these fake links redirects users to web pages that mimic real bank websites, prompting them to enter their account numbers and passwords.

    Scammers then exploit this information for fraudulent transactions. Even if users have Two-Factor Authentication enabled, scammers may impersonate bank employees to request additional verification codes.

    Protecting Yourself

    To safeguard against such scams, individuals are advised to scrutinize any messages received from unknown numbers or containing links to bank websites.

    Paying attention to spelling mistakes or special characters in URLs can help identify fraudulent links. If in doubt, users are encouraged to search for the bank’s official website on Google and cross-check the URL.

    Remain Vigilant

    As online scams continue to evolve, users need to remain vigilant and exercise caution when interacting with messages or links from unfamiliar sources. By following these precautions, individuals can better protect themselves against falling victim to online fraud.

  • MMDA Scam: Fraudsters Swindle Multinational MD Out Of Rs 4.8 Crore |

    New Delhi: Online scams have the potential to cause significant financial harm, often resulting in the loss of substantial amounts of money. Today’s news story highlights this issue, as a 67-year-old retired managing director of a multinational company in Thane has allegedly lost a staggering Rs 4.80 crore to an online fraud.

    The Thane crime branch uncovered that the scammers, pretending to be officials from central agencies, falsely accused the victim of drug trafficking and warned of police action. This pressure led the victim to share his secret bank details, which the scammers exploited to steal money. The situation was brought to attention when the Thane police’s cyber cell filed a report against three people. (Also Read: Vivo V29e Smartphone Gets Price Cut In India; Check Price, Discount and Specs)

    Fraudsters threatened with arrest warrants

    The victim got a call from the accused, who claimed they intercepted a package with illegal items like MDMA, passports, and credit cards bound for Taiwan, as per the complaint. To make it more convincing, the fraudsters had the victim’s personal details, including his Aadhaar card number. They also mentioned an alleged case against him at the Andheri police station in Mumbai, threatening him with arrest warrants and legal issues linked to money laundering and drug peddling. (Also Read: Former Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal Sues Elon Musk, Billionaire Responds With Emoji)

    Information disclosed by victim

    Disguised as part of an investigation, the fraudsters told the victim to download a video calling app, promising that an officer would handle the issue. Pretending to be from central agencies with fake logos, they pressured the victim into giving out personal information like bank account details, debit card numbers, and CVV codes. Moreover, the victim disclosed information about property deals in Pune and Murbad.

    Victim understood that he has been tricked

    The following day, the scammers accused the victim of making illegal transactions and said that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and a private bank were suspicious of his actions. They then told him to transfer Rs 1 crore to his wife’s account, which he did. But after talking to his son who lives in the UK, the victim understood that he had been tricked.

    Case filed under the Indian Penal Code

    The investigation found out that a total of Rs 4.80 crore was taken from the victim’s account. After the victim filed a complaint, the police registered a case against the accused under the Indian Penal Code and the Information Technology Act.

  • Navi Mumbai Woman Cheated Of Rs 1.92 Crore In Online Share Trading Scam |

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  • MNCs’s Employee Loses Rs 80 Lakh To Man She Met On Matrimonial Site |

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  • Indian Websites, Applications Saw Over 5.14 Billion Cyberattacks In 2023: Report |

    New Delhi: Indian websites and applications witnessed over 5.14 billion cyber attacks last year, especially targeting the healthcare sector, a new report revealed on Thursday. With a 10 times increase in attacks, software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies in India emerged as key targets for cybercriminals due to the high-value customer data they store, according to the report by Indusface, a TCGF II (Tata Capital) funded application security company.

    The retail and e-commerce industries were mostly targets of carding attacks. Other industries analysed, include IT services and consulting, manufacturing, telecommunications, marketing, and advertising. (Also Read: From Investment To Income: A Rs 5-7 Lakh Investment In This Business Idea Could Yield Rs 1.5 Lakh Monthly Returns)

    “Along with card cracking or credential stuffing, we also saw bot-driven, low-rate Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks being used more frequently,” said Ashish Tandon, CEO of Indusface. (Also Read: Japan Loses Its Position As The World’s Third-Largest Economy To Germany)

    Coming to mitigation he added, “We have seen reasonable success where AI models are alerting our managed services team of possible anomalies and the team is able to quickly take mitigation measures.”

    Indusface’s ‘AppTrana’ network blocked 6.8 billion attacks globally, with 5.14 billion of those targeting Indian enterprises, SMEs, and government organisations. Cyberattacks exhibited an average quarterly spike of 63 percent from Q1 to Q4 in 2023, underscoring the urgency for robust cybersecurity measures, said the report.

    The report sheds light on the vulnerability of various industries, particularly the healthcare sector, where 100 percent of websites faced bot attacks, and the banking, finance, and insurance sectors, where 90 percent of entities experienced similar attacks.

    In 2023, eight out of 10 sites faced targeted bot attacks, witnessing a 46 percent increase each quarter, totalling over 467 million bot attacks. Major cyber attack origins, apart from India, included the US, the UK, Russia, Germany, and Singapore, the report mentioned.

  • Online Promises Turn Sour: Navi Mumbai Man Duped Of Rs 10.13 Lakh In High-Return Scam |

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  • Online Investment Fraud: Union Bank Manager Falls Victim To Scam, Loses Rs 21 Lakh |

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  • Online Scam Preys On Mumbai Senior Citizen, Resulting In Rs 4.4 Lakh Loss |

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