Nowadays, the social circle of people has reduced. They are spending more time on mobile. They have started staying online more. These people are more prone to cyber fraud. Cyber fraudsters try to cheat many people in a day but can cheat only one or two.
The only people who fall prey to fraud are those who are either not aware or are limited to their work. Senior Superintendent of Police of STF of Uttarakhand Police, Ayush Agarwal shared these things with Jagran. He said that nowadays we give our numbers while shopping in hotels, restaurants, and shopping malls. This number reaches cyber fraudsters through the dark web.
Apart from this, many of the apps we download on the Play Store are unsafe. While downloading the app, permission for data access is taken. We permit without looking. This increases the possibility of phone cloning. Therefore, only those apps should be downloaded which is very important. The SSP said that nowadays cases of digital arrest have increased.
In most cases, house arrest is being reported in the name of the parcel. We should think that when a parcel has not been sent, how can it contain illegal material? The second thing is that even if an illegal parcel is caught, action is taken within the legal framework. In this, no police officer or employee asks for money. Contact the nearest police station to receive such calls. The victim has to trust the police and judicial system.
This is how fraud is happening
1- Banking and financial fraud Usually people get phone calls, SMS, or emails from unknown numbers in the name of getting KYC done. They are asked to give their personal, account, or login information. Sometimes they are also forced to download an app by giving a link and are cheated.
Avoid this way: On receiving any request for a KYC update, contact your bank or financial institution for verification or assistance. Get the contact number or customer service phone number of the bank or financial institution only from its official website or reliable sources.
In case of any cyber fraud, inform your bank or financial institution immediately. If money is withdrawn from your account despite not giving any information related to the bank account to the fraudsters and not sharing the OTP, then contact your bank branch. If you complain about it within 24 hours, the money will be returned to your account.
2- In the name of the parcel, many times fraudsters call and say that your parcel has been caught by the Mumbai Crime Branch, which contains illegal material. After this, the person claiming to be an officer of the Crime Branch gets the Skype app downloaded and keeps you busy on video calls for several hours or talks about digital arrest.
How to avoid: If you have not sent any parcel, then you do not need to panic. Do not pick up the call from a number starting with 92 digits. If you pick up the phone and the person scares or threatens you, then complain about it to the nearest police station.
3- In the name of investment, cyber fraudsters send messages on Telegram, and WhatsApp and lure you to earn huge profits by investing in the stock market. Initially, they also give some returns but after some time they make you invest a huge amount and cheat you.
Avoid this way: Do not get disturbed by such messages, check their authenticity thoroughly. Find out the company in which your money is being invested.
4- Cyber thugs pretending to be acquaintances call from unknown numbers introduce themselves as friends or relatives and talk about depositing money in their account. After this, they send fake messages and deceive people by saying that they will send more money and get money transferred to their accounts.
Avoid this way: Verify the phone number from which you have received the call. If the number from which the caller is making and the message to deposit money in the account come from the same number, be careful. Never click on an unknown link even by mistake. Ignore it so that you do not get cheated. If someone threatens you with arrest through a video call, do not be afraid at all, trust the police and the judicial process.
5- Fear of getting trapped in a fake case Cyber criminals have now adopted a new way of crime. They are cheating people mostly by calling on WhatsApp. For this, wearing the uniform of a police officer, posing as a police station in charge of some place, they suddenly call anyone. They say that their son, husband, or any other close relative is in their custody. He has been caught in a case of rape, assault, murder, etc. If they want to release him, they will have to pay money in return.
How to avoid it: If you get a call like this, talk to the concerned person first. If for some reason his number is not reachable, talk to his friends or inquire at the institute where he works.
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