Cybercriminals invent new fraud methods every day. Currently, scammers have started duping people through a malicious application created in the name of ‘PM Kisan Yojana’. After downloading this app, all the user’s confidential information reaches the scammers. In addition to this, they also monitor SMS traffic. Through this, we transfer people’s money through PhonePe. In many of these cases, people find out later.
Revealing this new method of online fraud, the Tamil Nadu Police on Saturday advised people to use only official apps and websites for financial transactions. The police came to know about this app called ‘PM Kisan Yojana’ while investigating unauthorized debits through PhonePe. This application was broadcast through many channels including WhatsApp. People downloaded it thinking it was an authorized application, after which they continued to be deceived.
Cyber Crime Branch said that the fraudsters use the intercepted data to register the device on the UPI platform. This makes unauthorized transactions possible. It also collects sensitive personal data like name, Aadhaar number, PAN and date of birth through a web form. This has left many people in financial and emotional difficulties, with scammers taking advantage of the trust associated with government plans and urgency.
For some time now, many incidents of unauthorized banking transactions have come to light through UPI app, especially PhonePe. This month alone, around 7 complaints have been filed in Tamil Nadu through the National Cyber Crime Complaints Portal. Victims have reported unexpected deductions from their bank accounts through PhonePe without their knowledge. The investigation revealed that in all reported cases the deducted amount was transferred exclusively to Amazon Pay.
Let us tell you that cyber crime incidents show no signs of slowing down in India. Scammers are constantly inventing new tricks to defraud people of their hard-earned money. This is the reason why cases of online fraud, such as digital arrest, have increased rapidly. With a phone call or an SMS, people’s bank accounts are emptied in a matter of minutes. These scammers commit crimes of deceiving people by stealing their personal information through calls or messages.
The government is also taking many measures to stop such fraud incidents. In view of the increasing cases of call fraud, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India i.e. TRAI has issued an alert warning people. TRAI made a post on its social media platform X and informed people about a new unwanted call. In these, people are asked to turn off the mobile network.
TRAI said scammers demand money from people by threatening to shut down their network. By calling the user, they threaten to shut down their network for violating the rules and ask them to pay a huge amount. But TRAI is not making such calls. If people receive such a call, they should immediately complain on the Sanchar Sathi portal.
The rapid rise in cybercrime cases in India is quite worrying. According to the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal i.e. NCRP, around 7.4 lakh cyber crime complaints were received in the first quarter of the year 2024. From January to June, Rs 11,269 crore was defrauded in cyber frauds. In this way, fraud of around Rs 60 million is committed every day. There is a possibility of a loss equivalent to 0.7 percent of GDP due to cyber fraud.
According to India’s Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, Indians stand to lose Rs 1.2 crore in cyber fraud next year. This fraud occurs mainly from China and the amount recovered through fraud is taken out of the country. MULE bank accounts used for illegal transactions will be the biggest contributor to the rise in online financial scams over the next year. We need to be careful with this.
