India most vulnerable to online crime: Study

Hyderabad: According to a survey recently conducted by the Experian, India is the most vulnerable, among Asian countries, to online frauds. The survey explored trends in frauds conducted in areas of financial services, including insurance, retail and telecoms.

P. Ravi Kiran, an Inspector of the Cyber Crime Cell of Hyderabad, said that the men operating such scams are usually well-educated. “They know exactly whom to target, and where,” he said. He added that the Cyber Crime Cell had registered over 50 cases of online fraud in 2017.

“Over 50 per cent of the victims of online job frauds, matrimonial frauds, and one-time password (OTP) frauds are IT professionals,” said a senior official from the Cyber Crime Cell of Cyberabad.

As per data provided by the Cyberabad Cyber Crime Cell, over 195 cases of online fraud have been registered this year. S. Jayaram,  Assistant Commissio-ner of police,  Cyber Crime Cell of Cybe-rabad, said, “We have received around 60 to 70 complaints pertaining to OTP, job and matrimonial frauds. 50 per cent of the victims are IT professionals, and the accused, in most cases, are from non-IT backgrounds.”

The victim of one such fraud said, “The caller identified himself as Ramesh and claimed to be an employee of SBI. He told me that I was being issued a new credit card and quoted my details, including my credit card number and name. Trusting him, I shared the OTP sent to my mobile, and minutes later '60,000 was transferred from my account.”

Mr Ravi Kiran said that online job frauds were the most consistently reported crime in Hyderabad. “With an alarming number of graduates passing out every year, cyber-criminals are targeting job-seekers by gathering their contact details from job websites. The fraudsters send them fake emails or call them offering jobs. They cheat the aspirants by levying all kinds of charges and then send them fake appointment letters,” he said.

Educated youngsters seem to know exactly how to extract the most money from their victims. “They shell out around '5000 for 3,000 resumes from prominent job portals like Naukri and Shine. They then sort out the resumes basing on qualifications and set up small call-centres. A graduate with a background in electronics may receive a tempting offer from ‘Bajaj Electronics’,” said Mr Kiran.

Another senior official from the Cyber Crime Cell said that fraudsters also used advertisements and classifieds listings in prominent newspapers to attract the attention of job seekers.