Learn what tactics the scammers are using to trap the general public and rob the hefty amount in the latest trending cyber crime.
Courier/Parcel Delivery Scam
Modus operandi of this type of cyber crime or scams is that parcel/courier scammers call their targets and claim to be customs officials over calls, stating that a parcel or a courier containing illegal items, narcotics or some other banned substances, has been booked in their name. They impersonate a police officer and inform the target about a possible arrest. Even they have a fake police station setup and they even show it when the target suspects, making them believe the scammers.The victim who is already scared, tries to settle the false case by offering money to avoid arrest and then the real cyber crime starts.
The scammers use psychological tactics during calls to threaten the victim and obtain personal identification information (Aadhaar & other details) and bank details and ask him/her to download a remote access tool usually AnyDesk & persuades for sharing the unique address code displayed within the App saying that everything will be OK.
The scammer then shares a form link on a text message and tells it to fill up all the personal details and banking details. Now the fraudster says there will be a small verification charge and then they will drop the case against the victim. The targeted victim falls into traps and all the crucial banking information gets transferred to the scammer and now the scammer transfers the money to their account/s as the tool reads OTPs received during transactions and the scammer's cyber crime job is done!
Another way of cheating the target is a bit longer. The scammer tries to target the opposite gender and seeks friendship on social media. After some time, based on the vulnerabilities of the target (usually they target estranged persons), they try to build trust and show that they love the target and offer them the moon. After a short time, they offer to send some dollars or iphone or jewellery and then after a few days, they ask the victim to pay some minimal amount to an Indian account number so that the courier that they sent could be released from airport authority. Victim already had the trust and had no reason to not believe it and sent the money. This goes on till the scammer keeps asking for more and more money on the pretext of releasing the courier and the victim transfers almost all the money he/she has.
Case Study:
Mr. B received a call from a person claiming to be a customs official from Mumbai. The conversation was regarding a parcel containing drugs.
The man threatened Mr. B, demanded 40,000 and asked for his bank account details under the pretext of investigation. After Mr. X agreed to transfer the money and share the details, the man accessed his bank account and withdrew 50 lakh.
Online Remote Job Scam
In this type of scam, the scammer Whatsapp to the target number with a display picture of a lady or gentleman working in BPO or working from home. Once the recipient target replies, the scammers reply that she/he is HR from XYZ company and they were hiring for online remote work and any one can earn X amount of money based on work related to data entry or posting fake reviews on some online apps or google business listings.
The targets get interested, thinking this is a lucrative opportunity as they will get to earn while sitting in the home and thinking of it as part time and comfortable job, they agree on that. Initially the scammer sends some money after the victim does some work and builds trust. After some time , the scammer will give the victim the fake plan of getting more money and ask for some refundable security amount. As the victim employee already got money from the so-called employer, he/she gets excited about getting more money and transfers the money to the scammers without any hesitation and after some time they get to know that they were trapped.
Impersonating On Whatsapp & Asking Money–
In this type of scam, the victim downloads some malware inadvertently as they would have clicked on some malicious link/form or installed some malware app and gave the contacts information to that app. The app owner would then create a whatsapp account and send the direct whatsapp message asking for some money as he/she got into some emergency and promises to revert the money after some days.
The other person sees the whatsapp and checks the profile pic and then sends the money as he/she knows the person whose display picture is on the scammers whatsapp. In some cases , scammers use an AI based fake voice app which converts the voice and then scammers call the acquired contacts from the app and ask them to send money by saying they are in big trouble. Victim has no way other than to send the money most of the time.
Fake Army Man Relocating House –
Some people will download the truck delivery apps like MOVER and will do the order to shift their house from one location to another. Usually they will put the pickup location to Army stations or airports and then upon driver assignment, the scammer will ask the driver partner to send advance money to take this order saying this is from an official army order and they will get money once they enter the pickup area. The driver believes and then sends the money.
Other Recent Fraud Types –
Everyone of us might have seen the free recharge scheme spam message which asks them to download the app or fill some form so that they will get the free recharge. This is all a scam.
Another trending scam is the customer care scam in which you search for customer care number of any company so that we can file the complaint and you end up calling wrong numbers, unfortunately to scammers and they usually ask you to send some token money and you don't mind doing that as you want the product to be repaired or service to be resumed.
The last but not the least fraud happens over the UPI apps in which the scammer will send a text message saying “You got x amount credited to your account” and then ask you to refund that amount. The victim thinks that he/she got the money and there is no harm in reverting the money to the original owner.But you are scammed till now.
Sometimes the fraudster requests the money instead of sending money on Google pay, this type of scam is very much prevalent in OLX frauds.
So scammers usually find an opportunity in any of the events happening in the country , be it election, announcement of any scheme, income tax filings due date, GST returns due date etc. If you want to read more frauds and daily updates on frauds happening all over India , Go to crime report website to read about more.
Safety Tips to Avoid the Frauds
Stop: Scammers will offer help or ask you to verify or share confidential/personal/sensitive information. Do not transfer money or share personal information with such people.
Think: Ask yourself if there is a possibility that the message or call could be fake
Protect: Act quickly if something feels wrong and protect yourself from getting scammed
How to Complaint for Cyber Crime:
Report: Call on 1930 immediately to report such incidents or visit cybercrime.gov.in.
But always keep in mind, “Prevention is always better than cure.”
