Private staff, startup owners main targets of cyber criminals
Scammers impersonate popular business entities, senior officials or customer care executives to con people through calls; in business frauds, they coax investors, women and students to make significant investments on fake trading apps
Of the 10,135 cybercrime cases reported in Telangana in March 2024, over 4,272 (42.15%) victims were employees, data shared by the Telangana State Cyber Security Bureau showed.
A whopping 2,863 were private employees and 351 were software or Information Technology (IT) employees working largely in Hyderabad, Cyberabad and Rachakonda. This was followed by 786 who were selfemployed, including startup owners while 272 were government staff.
As many as 525 business owners fell prey to cyber criminals this month, in which ‘identity theft’ and ‘business and investment frauds’ were the key Modus Operandi (MO).
In case of impersonation or cheating, fraudsters impersonate popular business entities, senior officials and customercare executives and con unsuspecting victims through calls.
Prominent frauds in this category include parcel frauds, trending in the last six months, in which cyber criminals impersonate executives of two top global logistics and courier firms and customs officials. This also includes credit/debit card fraud, wherein victims are defrauded on the pretext of blocking of the card, card limit enhancement, KYC updation, PAN card linkage, replacement of card, reward Points and even Aadhaar Enabled Payment System.
In business and investment frauds, fraudsters lure investors into making significant investments on fake trading apps. The most common MO is to add the victim to a WhatsApp group under the pretext of sharing tradingrelated information followed by sharing the link to an app on which victims can invest. When victims attempt to withdraw their ‘profits’, the fraudsters deny the withdrawal requests, resulting in losses.
“As a community, startup owners could be slightly more mature than the normal public. But fraudsters are a step ahead of us and there is a long way to go both from an individual and business level,” said Mahakali Srinivas Rao, the chief executive officer at THub. Larger companies have caught up by deploying extensive cyber security systems and insurance. However, the middle spectrum comprising Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and startups are still vulnerable, he added.
Students (487) and housewives (403) also continue to be on radar. Of these, a majority across the two segments 216 students and 142 women – were conned on the pretext of fake business and investment frauds, wherein fraudsters lure unsuspecting victims into making significant investments on fake trading apps.
Interestingly, as many as 242 farmers became prey to cybercrimes in the past month, across gift fraud (49), identity fraud (48), business and investment fraud (41) and loan fraud (41), the data showed.