A mounting menace

An international team of researchers has recently prepared the ‘World Cyber Crime Index’, according to which India ranks 10th in the world in terms of cybercrime. 100 countries have been included in this index. Russia is at the top in terms of cybercrime, while Ukraine is at second, China third, America fourth, Nigeria fifth, Romania sixth, and North Korea is at seventh.

Many types of cybercrimes occur in India. In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the incidents of cybercrimes being committed through call forwarding. Telecom companies provide call forwarding facility to the consumers, under which calls and SMS are forwarded. Consumers use this facility when they are busy in meetings or any important work, so that they do not miss any important call.

Consumers get the facility of call forwarding by activating the USSD-based call forwarding service on the number. USSD codes are usually used to know the balance or IMEI number of the mobile phone. This is a feature with the help of which services can be started or stopped by dialling a code.

Through call forwarding, scammers call consumers and tell them that they are calling from your telecom provider company. We noticed that there is a network problem on your number. To overcome the problem, you have to dial the number *401#. After dialling this number, the consumer is asked to call an unknown number. As soon as the consumer calls, all his calls and messages reach the scammer, including OTPs of bank and credit card transactions. Call and OTP are used by scammers to withdraw money from the consumer's bank account, access social media, and get a new SIM issued.

To prevent cybercrimes being committed through call forwarding, the government has stopped the service of USSD-based call forwarding from April 15, 2024. Therefore, smartphone users are asked to check the settings of their mobile phones and turn off the call forwarding service immediately if they see it running when dialling the *401# number.

In the past years, along with digitalisation, there has been a sharp increase in cybercrime. Now even Facebook and Instagram have become means of fraud. Such frauds are being perpetrated by creating fake profiles of friends or relatives. For the past few years, people have been searching for answers to all their questions on the Google search engine. Keeping such psychology in mind, fraudsters are saving their numbers on the internet in the name of famous payment apps like Google Pay, Phone Pay, Paytm, due to which people automatically fall into the trap of hackers.

Now cybercrimes are also being committed through downloading of browser extensions. This work is done through viruses. Mobiles and laptops also get infected through public charger ports. Online transactions done through browsers like Chrome, Mozilla etc. are saved in the server of the browser, which need to be deleted by going to the settings, but due to ignorance, people do not do so and cybercriminals get the benefit of this. Therefore, there is a need to be especially careful while using banking digital products like debit and credit cards, ATM, UPI, internet banking, QR codes etc., because carelessness in using them can drain your pockets.

Under phishing, by creating a fake website of a big or renowned company or the user's company, whose appearance is like the real website, tempting mails are sent, in which it is said that expensive things will be given for free. With the increase in the popularity of mobile phones, hackers also send offer messages through SMS or WhatsApp, which contain hyperlinks containing malware. By causing damage to the software installed on the computer or mobile or tab, the malware steals the user's financial information like, debit or credit card details, passwords, OTP, mobile number, address, bank account number, date of birth etc. It can also send fake emails from the user's email account to others without the user's knowledge, and through this, along with cheating, sensitive information can also be sold to unwanted people and with its help, someone's social reputation can also be tarnished.

Nowadays, cybercriminals are extorting money from people by calling them as borrowers without taking any loan through phone calls or SMS. Such blackmailing is being done more for small amounts like Rs 2000 to Rs 5000, so that financially weak people do not complain to the police.

Loan recovery agents threaten that “you have taken a loan from us and if you do not return the money within two-three days, your objectionable pictures will be made viral or shared with your relatives or colleagues and will be used as evidence”. They send morphed photos and videos.

Whether the user is educated or illiterate; today everyone is becoming a victim of cybercrime. Neither the people of urban areas nor the people of rural areas can escape from cybercrimes. Administrative officials, bank officials, judges, MLAs, MPs, ministers, and police — all are becoming victims of this. Bank's digital products have become a medium for cybercrime. Nevertheless, cybercrimes committed through digital products can be avoided by being alert.

If people are wary of suspicious pop-ups during browsing sessions, they must ensure that the URL contains https://pad lock symbol or not. Do not share card information on websites or mobile or public laptops or desktops, unknown numbers, or email IDs. If you immediately delete the attachments and ignore the messages related to online lottery, casino, gaming, shopping, or free download, then you can avoid the trap of phishing mails or suspicious hyperlinks forwarded through SMS or WhatsApp.

Taking loan from mobile app is more dangerous than taking loan from a moneylender. Many times, loan recovery agents not only cheat people of money but also defame them in the society. Moneylenders were largely limited to villages and towns, but today the prevalence of loan recovery agents goes beyond the country and time, because most of the mobiles are made in China and their servers are outside India. For this reason, most of the recovery agents are doing fraud business from China, Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines, South Africa etc. Therefore, despite filing a complaint with the police, it is not easy to catch the cybercriminals.

Caution is the only protection in this matter. Don't be greedy. This is the root of all problems. Do not come under psychological pressure. Do not hesitate to seek police help if you receive threats. Be fearless, only then you can avoid becoming a victim of cybercrime.

Views expressed are personal