Fraudsters use social media info to creep into your bank accounts

New Delhi: When you get a Facebook message from a trusted friend which claims you just appeared in this particular video with an attachment, your natural instinct is to open the link. By the time you realise there is no video, you are trapped. Your account is hacked. Similarly, another modus operandi used by online fraudsters is to first send a friend request and strike a conversation, later they tell you that some lady who was reputed and a millionaire has died leaving behind her huge property.

This might lead to another trap where a person is lured to do some agreement with the online friend where he or she asks to deposit some money is a particular bank account for some clearance. The more you deposit, the more you are cheated.

Several cases have come to police with similar modus operandi where the victims have been duped of lakhs of rupees.

There are various precautions that one could take to avoid falling in the online trap of fraudsters. To start with one has to be careful while accepting a friend request from strangers on social media. Do not forget to reset passwords for all your accounts while discontinuing a relationship.

"Also, always make two separate e-mail accounts. One for communicating with people you trust and for your financial transactions. Use a separate e-mail account for registering on social networking sites. This will protect your primary account from online stalkers," Cyber-safety and Cybersecurity awareness handle 'Cyberdost' tweeted.

Many mobile apps ask for many permissions to access data and functions regardless of the necessity for the functioning of the app. Identify the nature of the app, assess the necessity of permissions asked while installing the app and avoid giving unwanted permissions.