With cyber crime on the rise, we speak to experts to share tips on dealing with fraudulent activities

Digital advancement has given fraudsters new ammunition to target the vulnerable. In the WhatsApp fraud, the target receives a message saying the sender has found his number on contact. Scamsters gain information slowly for misuse. The Facebook fraud has a link from a friend – Is this you in the video? The account gets hacked after clicking on the link. It’s time to know ways to deal with them.

Online frauds 

Shedding light on the situation, Niranjan Upadhye, General Manager, Fraud Risk Management Division, Worldline India, says, “Most frauds are Social Engineering frauds. After gaining your trust, fear or greed, fraudsters typically coax you for a ‘call to action’, something they’d like you to do. Once they manage to get you to do the same, they would exploit your weakness further by cajoling or coercing you.” Thus, despite a generally sorted infrastructural security, India faces peril in IT-related frauds thanks to user conduct.

There are talks about the hijacking, which has the attacker taking over communication between two entities. The attacker then mimics one of the entities. It is all done to gather information or become one of the users to conduct things that he or she normally does online. This is what Shibu Paul, Vice President, International Sales at Array Networks, has observed.

“Thieves use email to try to trick you into visiting a false website where you get told to reveal confidential information,” he reveals about Phishing. “There’s ‘Vishing’. Scammers utilise a phone number in phishing emails. A person or an automated response system will ask for your personal or account details if you call. One most prevalent attack is infecting a user’s computer with malicious software, or ‘Malware’. ‘Botnet’ refers to a network of robot computers. The use of malware disseminated via Botnet allows criminals to acquire sensitive data and possibly commit fraud.”

Many might have seen newer frauds on the horizon hitting millennials and Gen Z. Like dating site frauds, fun games around celebrity crushes, credit card renewal fee waivers, credit card blocked, Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL), Cryptocurrency, AnyDesk fraud, Covid related and fuel card frauds and…