TYPES OF CYBER FRAUDS

Social Engineering - A hacker may dig through your social media accounts to get your personal information, including names of, say, your pet or school, or your mother’s maiden name, to crack your online banking password.

Phishing - Fraudsters try to extract sensitive information such as personal details, bank account number and password by sending fake e-mails. Once you key in the details asked for on the fake site, the data, including the password and PIN, are passed on to the fraudster.

Malware - It is designed to copy and transfer data from an infected device. A malware can be downloaded from a fake e-mail attachment or any other unsecured website.

Money Mule - Once the targeted individual’s data are available, fraud rings or organised criminals typically transfer money from the target account to an intermediary, or money mule, account to receive the illegal money.

SIM Cloning - This has mushroomed after OTP became mandatory for banking and card transactions. The fraudster gets hold of your account details and identity proof to get a duplicate SIM after getting the original SIM deactivated.

Vishing - Scamsters dial an individual posing as a bank representative and weave a web of deceit to extract card details

ATM Skimming - For obtaining the PIN, the fraudster places a camera which focuses on the keypad or uses a fake keypad. Sophisticated thieves have been found to use thermal imaging to pick heat signatures left behind after the user enters the PIN.

Card Cloning - When you leave your card unattended in the hands of a stranger, the stranger just has to swipe the card for the skimming device to capture all the data; the fraudster or his associate just needs to note down the CVV number manually.