Indian cyber criminals exploit Covid-19
Police in India lodged a case this week against an unknown online fraudster who tried selling the world’s largest statue for $4bn, saying the Gujarat state government would use the proceeds to fight the coronavirus.
While the plot to sell the “Statue of Unity”, a monument nearly twice the height of New York’s Statue of Liberty, is among the most brazen cases, police say cyber crimes have surged since the health pandemic took hold in the country.
With scams ranging from free mobile recharges, to offers of free Netflix subscriptions, federal home ministry officials cite an 86% rise in cyber crime in the past four weeks.
Police and internal security officials said scammers have created fake versions of the flagship “PM Cares Fund” payments interface that look deceptively similar to the original, and many Indians and non-resident Indians (NRIs) have fallen prey.
“We have received over 8,300 complaints from individuals across India and NRIs who have donated thousands of dollars into fake accounts,” said a home ministry official, adding the retrieval process is a complex task.
“We have already blocked all handles with permutations and combinations of the ‘PM Cares Fund’ that were illegitimate and we are watchful and ensuring the handles for donations get verified,” said Dilip Asbe, CEO of National Payments Corporation of India, an umbrella group for retail payments.
WE HAVE ALREADY BLOCKED ALL HANDLES WITH PERMUTATIONS OF THE ‘PM CARES FUND’ THAT WERE ILLEGITIMATE
Police have registered cases against fake offers that Reliance Industries telecom arm Jio and streaming service Netflix were offering discounted services at a time when more than 1.3-billion people are forced to live indoors for 21 days to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
CERT-In, an Indian computer emergency response team and ReBIT, technology arm of Reserve Bank of India, have warned about online threats and scams and asked financial institutions to be aware.
“The US Secret Service has also warned nations that during times of uncertainty and increased online activity, cyber criminals are actively working to exploit the current Covid-19 story with attacks aimed at taking advantage of the situation,” said Nitin Bhatnagar, senior official at PCI Security Standards Council, a global standards body for payment cards.