Tamil Nadu Cybercrime Wing Warns of Fake NCRP Site Stealing Data, Money
Chennai: The State’s Cyber Crime Wing warned the people of a website posing as National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP) that has been stealing people’s money by first displaying the message “Your computer has been blocked” and then demanding payment of a fine of Rs 30,290 and financial information, which, if provided, can lead to the fraudsters capturing sensitive information such as “card details, expiry date and CVV” to use them for swindling later.
The cybercrime wing’s Cyber Patrolling Team, using the internet to detect and prevent crimes by searching for harmful and illegal information on internet, has identified the website - https://infaulwnmx.cyou/ - that had an inbuilt setting to make itself in a full screen with a voice over at the back saying, “Your computer has been blocked because you have seen some pornographic contents,” a press release from the cyber wing said on Wednesday.
Urging people to report such fraudulent or suspicious activities on the internet by dialing Cyber Crime toll free Helpline No 1930 or register a complaint at www.cybercrime.gov.in, the cyber cell said action, based on a report, was taken earlier by sending notice as per the IT rules 2021 to the Domain registrar based in Hong Kong, China, to block the fraudulent website and the illegal website was taken down immediately.
The case highlighted the importance of verifying the legitimacy of the URLs, especially when financial transactions were involved as such scams exploited trust and could result in significant financial loss for victims, the release said, giving out a set of advisories for Cyber Safety.
Since scammers often create spoofed websites that look almost identical to legitimate ones but with minor differences, people are asked to check the website and verify the HTTPS. Legitimate websites used HTTPS (hypertext transfer protocol secure) that signified the security of user data, verified the ownership of the website and prevented attackers from creating a fake version of the site, the release said.
Watching out for spelling mistakes - fake websites often contained typos or incorrect spellings - and a careful scrutiny of the domain name - government websites always ends with gov.in - were some of the do's in the advisory that cautioned about pop-ups. ‘While accessing any of the websites, carefully look into the pop-ups and allow only if necessary,’ it said.
The cyber cell urged people not to click on ads as the advertisements showing up on the websites may be from illegitimate sources. Finally, ‘think multiple times before entering sensitive financial information such as card number, CVV etc,’ it said.
It also mentioned another scam, currently trending, in which an SMS, ‘pretending to be from India Post,’ would be received stating “we are unable to deliver your parcel and click on the below link to re-attempt delivery”. The website would demand payment of Rs 25 as a re-attempt fee but would collect card details in the backend for swindling money from the account.
