Amid the increasing cases of cybercrimes, the government on recommendation of the Union Home Ministry has taken strict measures and blocked over 100 websites, which facilitated organised illegal investments and task-based part time job frauds.
These websites, which facilitated task based/organized illegal investment related economic crimes, were learnt to being operated by overseas actors and they were using digital advertisement, chat messengers and mule/rented accounts, the ministry said.
It was also learnt that proceeds from the large scale economic frauds were seen to be laundered out of India using card network, crypto currency, overseas ATM withdrawals and international Fintech companies. In this regard, several complaints were received through 1930 helpline and NCRP and these offences were posing significant threat to the citizens and also involved data security concerns.
As per the latest data released by NCRB, Mumbai recorded 6,960 cases of economic offences in 2022, the highest in any metro city, followed by Hyderabad with 6,015 cases of economic offences last year
National capital Delhi remained on the third spot with 5007 cases.
ETBFSI has also unearthed a shocking incident where an Axis Bank customer lost her savings of Rs 41 lakh with the bank after fraudsters managed to break her fixed deposits with the bank.
The incident raises questions on the safety of bank FDs as the fraudsters managed to bypass Axis Bank’s processes to change the mobile number and registered email ID of the 47-year-old customer Vedula Padmaja and dodge the two-way OTP authentication to break the FD.
Also Read: Cyber fraudsters break Axis Bank customer’s fixed deposit, siphon off Rs 41 lakh
Home Ministry shares modus operandi:
Home Ministry in a statement on Wednesday said targeted digital advertisements are launched on platforms like Google and Meta using key words like “Ghar baithe job”, “Ghar baithe kamai kaise karen” etc in multiple languages from overseas advertisers. Targets are mostly retired employees, women and unemployed youth looking for part time jobs.
Upon clicking the advertisement, an agent using WhatsApp/Telegram starts conversation with the potential victim, who convinces her to perform some tasks like Video Likes and Subscribe, Maps Rating, etc.
Once the task is completed, victim is given some commission initially and is asked to invest more to get more returns against given task.
After gaining confidence, when victim deposits larger sum, deposits are frozen and thus victim is duped.
Government suggests precautionary measures:
The Home Ministry has released a detailed precautionat measures to be adopted by the users to safeguard themselves from these online frauds.
Exercise due diligence before investing in any such very high commission paying online schemes sponsored over internet, it said.
If an unknown person contacts you over WhatsApp/Telegram, refrain from performing financial transactions without verification.
Verify the name of receiver mentioned in UPI App. If receiver is any random person, it may be a mule account and scheme may be fraudulent. Similarly, check the source from where initial commission is received.
Citizens should refrain from doing transactions with unknown accounts, as these could be involved in money laundering and even terror financing and lead to blocking of accounts by police and other legal action.
