new delhi: Since the COVID-19 outbreak in the country, the Delhi Police has registered more than 287 cheating cases and arrested 51 people for fraud.
According to investigators, fraudsters often used the pandemic to cheat people of their money and many cases of property fraud were also
reported during the public health crisis.
According to Delhi Police data, 227 cases were registered, 44 people were arrested and 28 cases were solved in March. In April, 60 cases were registered in which six were solved and seven persons were nabbed, according to the data.
"There were cases where these fraudsters hacked Facebook accounts or made similar FB accounts and duped people by taking advantage of the Coronavirus crisis. The main reason behind hacking is the poor password choice by account holders," an official said.
Another investigator said they are also probing frauds committed under the pretext of Know Your Customer (KYC) requests. "It is a traditional trend in which the fraudster will pretend to be an official and ask the victim to download an application. The cheater will then ask his target to submit a few details and get access to victim's phone," an official said, adding that these fraudsters create multiple e-wallets in which money keeps
revolving to dodge location tracers.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (CyPAD) Anyesh Roy said: "We suggest people that don't make a fund transfer until you have verified through an alternate independent channel about the genuineness and authenticity of the person on the other side."
He also said: "If you are not sure about certain tasks asked of you, then don't proceed with the transaction. If you are asked to download an app and feel doubt, do not do it."
Recently, the Computer Emergency Response Team of India (CERT-In) said: In recent trends, threat actors (cybercriminals) are taking advantage of the pandemic situation to trick the users to give up their sensitive information by taking advantage of the interest associated with recent novel Coronavirus activities, news, and information.
"Threat actors impersonate popular video platforms like Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, the AarogyaSetu app and WHO to send phishing messages through SMS(smishing), WhatsApp (whishing) or phishing emails to steal identities and engage in other nefarious activities during the COVID-19 pandemic," said CERT-In.
The EOW of Delhi Police has also registered various kinds of cheating cases which include property fraud, duped on pretext of investment on certain schemes.