Introduction
India and its relation with cybercrime cases have profoundly seen to be increased from the start of this year, 2023. The statistics have shown a 200% of increment in cybercrime cases in comparison to 2022. The increasing cases of cybercrime have left people in concern. There are preventive measures and actions taken towards it, but before that, here’s a brief about recent cases that took place in India’s metropolitan cities, also known as I.T. hubs. The Growing cybercrime percentage has left people in aww. These cybercrimes aren’t as big as ransomware attacks but caused due to misattribution and a lack of understanding of the power of the internet.
Bangalore UPI scam
An online scam case where a Bangalore businessman loses Rs.50,000. Recently in July, a businessman from a village in Karnataka who fails to operate Phonepay for some transactions, as his accounts were connected to both the Axis Bank credit card and the Bank of Baroda Credit card. This man reaches out to Google, seeking help. He sees a couple of numbers of some technician and dials it. The phone gets answered once the victim starts to elaborate on his issues. The person hangs up the call and reverts back again from some other number impersonating to be a legitimate customer service person. This incident took on July 9 morning. After the victim elaborated on his issue with Phonepay, the strange on-call asked him to install an Application named “RustDesk”, its’ purpose is for screen sharing, more likely an AutoDesk. The scammer on call instructs the victim to open is PhonePay while monitoring it via the screen-sharing application. Later he scanned both the credit card back and front. Everything seemed normal to the victim till then thought this might resolve his issue with his PhonePay. After post few hours, the victim received notification of money debited of an amount worth Rs.29,998 from an Axis Bank card and Rs.27,308 from Bank of Badora. This complaint got filed in National CyberCrime Reporting Portal online on July 25.
Analysis of the Banglore businessman case and advisory on it
This case truly sets a practical example that it’s not necessary for everything found online or any customer service centre number stated online to be true. Issues related to banking, like money transactions, funds transfers, etc., such be filed on the original website of the bank to seek help, being patient with the responses also. While doing such, it is advised to thoroughly check if the website originates from the right resource. The executives of such trusted banks, companies, or Organizations would never ask to install such applications or anything. The question remains who to trust and seek genuine help in such cases? The answer remains it’s always helpful to seek help from the original organisation of the product.
Delhi turning up the cybercrime rate statistics to the netizens
Recently, Delhi has shown statics of an increase in Cybercrime of about 200%, and the number of complaints related to cyber frauds and scams are higher than the previous year. The type of crimes are as follows, Email compromise, phishing, vishing, internet banking, swapping of SIM cards, demate-depository, frauds related E-wallets, Debit or credit card-related, and UPI scams. Reportedly most of the cybercrimes occur from fraud cyber hubs from the Mewat region, The neighbouring states, such as the scandalous Jamtara in Jharkhand. The utilisation of the Internet and devices connected to the Internet for sending and receiving has been a boon but also let fraudsters a way to scam hard-earned money by finding loopholes in it. According to Police investigations, The scams and attacks are namely same as earlier, but the attackers find a new way technique in the systems or maybe reach out to people. The rising number of cybercrime not just in Delhi but in many parts of the country has led to more severe concerns and efforts. Moreover, cyber crimes are increasing rapidly, and the defensive part where the cyber cells play a role in protecting the individual’s dataset and resolving the cases, but this won’t work unless and until there are some strict actions and preventive measures taken to it, for this Indian Government has come up with the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, of 2023 which states individuals’ data protection and the right to information. The Act has clauses for every possible individual’s rights about their data, how the collected data is processed and etc. So where are we lacking if we have the strongest of the strongest digital acts in existence? The problem lies in spreading out awareness about the importance of cyber security, the importance of data privacy, and protection. People from rural areas lack such knowledge and are prone to prey on such frauds and scams. As the political parties hold campaigns for elections and stuff, isn’t it fair to organise campaigns to spreading out awareness on such important issues which might lead to a dangerous future for the country?
Conclusion
As we look up these cybercrime cases and draw an analysis, it might only give a piece of information about how misattributions, latency in software updates, misconfiguration, and lack of knowledge. The attacks aren’t caused by any big thing but by the trap of considering minute mistakes from the individuals. Henceforth, privacy and the protecting shield to our own data and our money lies in our hands itself. It has become important to stay up-to-date about the ongoing trends. To the younger generation of this country, it’s advised to spend at least 10 mins a day researching and analysing cyber threats and updating your family, friends, and relatives about such things. This might not only help to grow the individual but the society too. To help society and acknowledge them in cyberspace, Are you ready for it?
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Author: Sakshi Ankush Dhanawade Intern, Policy and Advocacy
