Ram Rajya may have been a reality millennia ago under the rule of the much revered eponymous divinity, but the world has gradually degenerated to a kali yuga of the present with reprobates ruling the roost and snaring the ingenuous and the ingenious alike. The dailies scream about net frauds and tech crimes, alarmingly endemic. Anyone and everyone could be a potential victim.
Manisha, a working professional in her mid-30’s, receives a SMS from an unknown number saying that her electricity bill has not been paid and faces immediate disconnection of supply if not paid promptly, along with a number to call back urgently. Manisha, hard at work, does not want any disruption at her home, gets scared and calls up the number. Only to be read out a harangue by a so-called electricity supervisor who shares a QR code asking her to pay the dues of Rs. 2,700 immediately to ensure continuity of power supply. Manisha pays the amount and feels relieved only to discover later from a tech savvy friend that she has been conned by a scamster to part with her money. She had got scared and in the heat of the moment did not think twice or bother to look up the website to see if any of her electricity bills are outstanding.
Sharad, a 65 years old retiree, gets an e-mail, whilst in a meeting, from a person whom he knows well, seeking help for an urgent remittance of Rs. 26,930 to his nephew stating that he is stuck in the customs to clear some urgent medicines that he had to import since that his UPI is not working. In good faith and as a helpful person, Sharad promptly transfers that amount to the indicated bank account and informs his friend that he has transferred the amount. The friend profusely thanks him for helping him in his hour of need. Within a few minutes of that, another mail comes in asking for an additional amount of Rs. 17,571. Sharad transfers that amount too to the bank account. Sharad is feeling good that he has helped his friend and messages his friend on his WA giving him the details of the transfers and inquires if he was able to clear the shipment of medicines from the customs. Sharad’s friend is shocked to hear this and tells him that he has not asked for any help and that his mail had been hacked into a few months ago. His friend further said that if at all he was in such a situation, he would have called him up or Sharad should have called him up before falling prey and transferring such large amounts based on a mail. Sharad was crestfallen. He had acted in good faith since the e-mail carried his friend’s known mail id. Sharad lodged a complaint with the cyber crime helpline number and also wrote to the receiving bank about their faulty due diligence systems and how they could allow scamsters to open fraudulent accounts. His prompt action of reporting the crime to the cybercrime cell and also writing to the bank helped his cause and the bank obliged by refunding the amounts to Sharad to protect their public image of a safe bank. Sharad was lucky to get his money back.
Prakash, a retired senior government technologist, gets a video call the other day claiming to be from FedEx, about a package sent to Russia in his name, saying it was intercepted at the customs and being returned since it contained banned drugs. The FedEx agent goes on to tell Prakash that he will transfer the call to the police and he is free to explain to them directly. They also wanted to check his bank account to check for any credits from nefarious sources and ask him to transfer the monies so that they can check the source of the funds and if they are genuine the amounts will be re-transferred to his bank account. All these conversations lead to Sharad transferring nearly Rs. 8 lakhs in moments in a charged atmosphere of fear and threats over the blurred video call. Further transfers thankfully stopped only because his bank was alert and noticed unusual transfers and blocked his bank account. Sharad, a clean as a whistle professional and a highly intelligent career government employee, was significantly relieved of a sizeable amount from his retirement kitty and is ruing what happened. He has no explanation for why he did what he did and has withdrawn into a shell.
The other day one came across a news article in the papers about a businessman getting a call from a cop saying that his son has been retained in Dubai for being found with some banned items and to secure his release he has to pay a fine of 15,000 dirhams. The cop did not even allow him to speak to his son. The businessman immediately paid up the money by scanning a QR code, fearing for the wellbeing of his son. Later that evening he found out that he had been tricked when he called up his son to find out if he was alright and found that he was safe and secure and that he had not been travelling at all nor was he ever detained at the Dubai customs.
The above instances are real life cases and three of those have happened to people who are known to the writer. Interestingly, all the affected people are well-educated, highly successful and worldly wise. It does beg the adage, “a fool and his money are soon parted”. In today’s technology world, quite simply even the wise can get fooled into parting with their money.
The free availability of personal information, easy access to technology, the ubiquitous digital presence and social media interactions makes almost everyone vulnerable and a victim-in-waiting – from teens to seniors, from students to teachers, from fools to the intelligent, from tech savvy to tech dinosaurs, from men to women, from doctors to scientists, from lawyers to consultants.
While there are no definitive safeguards against these types of frauds, some commonsensical approach can help mitigate or stave off becoming a victim and poorer. It will be worth taking the following illustrative precautions.
- Stop sharing personal information in public domain
- Stop downloading banking and investment apps on your mobile
- If your mobile gets stolen, the cons will get easy access to your wealth
- No matter what the banks or anyone says, the apps are never safe enough. Use your home computer, if at all.
- Stop storing passwords, username, etc in your mobile, however cryptic and safe you may feel it is
- The cheats tend to be more tech savvy than you can imagine
- Stop accepting friend requests from any and sundry; be choosy and circumspect
- Stop having personal conversations with unknown people in any social media, be it Facebook or Instagram or LinkedIn or any other; many stalkers and trolls abound in these social streets
- Do not answer any calls from unknown numbers
- Do not panic when you get the wrong type of calls; just a simple action of disconnecting the call may send out the signal that you are smart
- Do not access any unknown or suspicious links or websites
- Do not assume all e-mails are genuine. Many are not and are spams
- Do not indiscriminately link your bank accounts to all UPI applications
- If at all you need to use mobile wallets, limit the balances that you retain in the wallets at any time.
- Put a mental monetary limit on every wallet transaction
- If you need to link the wallet to your bank account, ensure that only the bare minimum bank balance is kept in the bank; this will limit exposure to frauds.
- Never shy away from consulting a friend or a family when faced with such situations, before your rush into transferring any money
- Be curious about technology and how it can be an enabler as well as a threat; read and learn about safeguards and precautions to be taken.
- Use the Cybercrime helpline like 1940 and Cybercrime cell of the police to lodge complaints immediately on occurrence of a fraud or a scam.
Next time when your doorbell rings, use the peep hole. Don’t jump to open the door. Same with the cyber world and the social space. Be wary of where you enter and what you let in. Lest you be coaxed into a hoax !
