{"id":209,"date":"2020-06-24T05:04:34","date_gmt":"2020-06-24T05:04:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cac.net.in\/blog\/?p=209"},"modified":"2024-10-11T16:17:22","modified_gmt":"2024-10-11T10:47:22","slug":"frauds-and-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cac.net.in\/blog\/frauds-and-pandemic\/","title":{"rendered":"Frauds and Pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Whenever a pandemic or a catastrophe\nstrikes serial fraudsters become more active as they know that they can now\ntarget individuals globally by taking advantage of their lack of knowledge and awareness.\nPost Covid-19 many financial institutions, Banks, law enforcement and state\ndepartments have cautioned public in general on issues related to frauds. Fraudsters\nknow that threat of getting infected by this virus is on top of publics minds. Serial\nfraudsters and cyber criminals start using innovative and new ways to defraud\nindividuals using new age handheld devices and personal computer, tapping a\nPandemic as a cover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As Corona Virus is still growing and is spreading globally, serial fraudsters are using it as a cover and are committing cyber frauds. Rise of cybercrime in India can be noticed with the advisories issued by Banks, NBFCs[1], NPCI[2], ministries and various government departments.Most of the developed countries have already seen a surge in cybercrimes related to Covid-19 when it began, UK\u2019s National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) reporting centre for fraud and cybercrimes mentioned that \u201cCoronavirus-related fraud reports increase by 400%\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Public in large should understand that\nonly in rare casesone can get back theirlost money once they have been conned.\nHere are few recent Covid-19 related frauds which are prevalent in India and\nways to public can protect itself, so that people do not lose their hard-earned\nmoney.Most of the covid-19-related frauds have a simple modus operandi and are\neasily executed by taking advantage of the lack of awareness of the victim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Frauds related to Loan moratorium:<\/em><\/strong>On 27th<\/sup> March 2020 India\u2019s finance minister Ms. Nirmala Sitaraman Ji announced moratorium on all loans. As soon as this was announced fraudsters started calling customers to defraud them by using their new ways. However, most financial institutions cautioned their borrowers using different social media platforms and websites. Fraudsters would call up unsuspecting bank customers and borrowers and pose as bank representatives and then inform them that they are eligible for bank moratorium and that the borrower does not need to pay the upcoming two EMIs, as per RBI\u2019s[3]directive and in this process, they trick borrowers into sharing their crucial banking details. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once the borrowers are convinced,\nfraudsters ask them to share the OTP (one-time password) by giving them the\nimpression that the OTP is the confirmation code for availing the moratorium,\nwhen actually it is for a bank transaction that borrowers may be doing. Once\nthe borrower shares the OTP, he loses the money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Frauds related to donations in PM CARES:<\/em><\/strong> Lot of passionate Indians are making generous donations of their hard-earned money to the Prime Minister\u2019s Citizen Assistance and Relief in these Emergency Situations or PM CARES Fund. When the portal started accepting fund\u2019s using UPI[4] ID is pmcares@sbi<\/em>. However, many fraudsters made similar UPI IDs overnight such as pmcares@pnb, pmcares@hdfcbank, pmcare@yesbank, pmcare@ybl, pmcares@icici, and so on, to defraud people. Fraudsters made so many fake IDs that the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) had to issue a statement and warning. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Social Media plays a crucial role in\nflaring up fake ID\u2019s and unsuspecting customers transfer money without\nverifying. However, most of these IDs have now been disabled.There are many other\nfake donation messages which are sent out to help the poor during this pandemic,\nplease donot donate to any social or religious organization without verifying\nthe facts and ensure the money is going for the right cause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exploitation:<\/em><\/strong> As the pandemic rose many essential items such as Sanitizers, PPE kits, N-95 Face masks and other essentials were either not available or were in short supply because of the lockdown. Cybercriminals made look-a-like e-commerce websites selling much such soughtafter items that were in short supply for unsuspecting customers. These websites looked like a proper e-commerce website, where you select items, quantities, provide the delivery address and make payment through different means. However, these items never get delivered, the site is shut down after a while defrauding clients and unsuspecting individuals. Moreover, all the key data punched by the customer is captured and sold on the dark web[5].<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then there are emails bombs and spam mobile\nmessages mentioning government is releasing funds to help citizens. The message\nasks the victim to click on a link, which takes them to a fake government website.\nPost which it asks the victim to enter sensitive bank details to avail the\nfund. Without realizing, the victim gives away his confidential information\nthat helps the hackers transact on behalf of the account holder without\nalarming the customer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Installing malware:<\/em><\/strong> There are messages which are sent out claiming to provide free services such as OTT[6]subscription, apart from this there are message sent to unsuspecting customers claiming to represent Government or State departments temptingcustomers to open the link and view its contents, as soon as link or attachment are clicked or opened, the malware is installed on unsuspecting customer\u2019s computer or smart mobile phone which provides remote access and information to cyber criminals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some malwares can even relay the live\nscreen of your device to hackers, who can capture your passwords or bank\naccount details when you enter them on your device. If you are unsure of the\nattached files or links received, you should never open such links and delete\nthem. You can also use online services such as virustotal.com,\nabuseipdb.com, sandbox.pikker.ee and exodus-privacy.eu.org<\/em> to verify\nsuch emails or messages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Protect yourself and your social media<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There have been incidents in past where cyber\ncriminals have hacked social media accounts of individuals and have used its\npersonalmessaging services, post that these criminals reach out to friends and\nfamily asking them for monetary help and creating an urgency situation. Always\nverify such messages and avoid sending money to someone unless you personally confirm\nthe contents with originator of any such message.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few more basic things can help you\nprevent frauds. Be careful with money transfers and online purchases. Ensure\nyou are transferring money to the right account and buy only from well-known\nentities. Never click or download links, attachments or images that come with\nforwards, even if they are from known sources. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Article by Hurrmeet SG Vohra<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Director,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Corporate Analyst & Consultant Private Limited
<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

[1] A Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) is a company registered under the Companies Act, 2013 of India, engaged in the business of loans and advances, acquisition of shares, stock, bonds, hire-purchase insurance business or chit-fund business, but does not include any institution whose principal business is that of agriculture, industrial activity, purchase or sale of any goods (other than securities) or providing any services and sale\/purchase\/construction of immovable property. (Source: Wikipedia)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[2] The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is an umbrella organisation for operating retail payments and settlement systems in India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[3] The Reserve Bank of India \u201cRBI\u201d is India’s central bank, which controls the issue and supply of the Indian rupee. RBI is the regulator of the entire Banking in India. RBI plays an important part in the Development Strategy of the Government of India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[4] Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is an instant real-time payment system developed by National Payments Corporation of India facilitating inter-bank transactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[5] The dark web is the World Wide Web content that exists on darknets, overlay networks that use the Internet but require specific software, configurations, or authorization to access<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[6] An over-the-top (OTT) media service is a streaming media service offered directly to viewers via the Internet. OTT bypasses cable, broadcast, and satellite television platforms, the companies that traditionally act as a controller or distributor of such content<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Whenever a pandemic or a catastrophe strikes serial fraudsters become more active as they know that they can now target individuals globally by taking advantage of their lack of knowledge and awareness. Post Covid-19 many financial institutions, Banks, law enforcement and state departments have cautioned public in general on issues related to frauds. Fraudsters know…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[196],"tags":[65,66,67],"class_list":["post-209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-forensic-accounting-fraud-detection","tag-financial-frauds-in-covid-19","tag-frauds-in-covid","tag-frauds-in-covid-19"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cac.net.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cac.net.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cac.net.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cac.net.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cac.net.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.cac.net.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":224,"href":"https:\/\/www.cac.net.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209\/revisions\/224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cac.net.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cac.net.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cac.net.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}