The growing trend of Internet banking has resulted in more cases of identity thefts and phishing. Aravind Chaturvedi, Additional SP, UP Special Task Force, tells Divya Kaushik how one can avoid falling prey to cyber crime
If you are used to getting lured by interesting pop ups on screen, learn to ignore them. According to cyber crime experts these pop ups can be a trick to get your financial details, which can be used by cyber criminals. From booking travel tickets to buying grocery, almost everything can be done online and most of us do not even think twice before logging into an unknown website and sharing financial details. While on the one hand the trend of e-retail has brought enormous profits to entrepreneurs and convenience to the buyers, on the other it has its own set of challenges. A recent Norton report by Symantec, India is among the world’s top five countries for the highest number of incidences of cyber crime. This includes ransomware, identity thefts and phishing incidents with the average cost per cyber victim going up from $192 last year to $207. As per the report 63 per cent of smartphone users experiences some form of cyber crime in the past one year. There are 66 per cent of Indian consumers using their personal mobile device for both work and play, which creates entirely new security risks for enterprises. “At present, online payment card fraud is 63 per cent of the total retail pay-card fraud. The major challenge in cyberspace is the anonymity which makes identity tracing a significant problem. However, this problem is further complicated when even the digital stamping of transactions in cyberspace is denied,” said Aravind Chaturvedi, Additional SP, UP Special Task Force, while talking about increasing crime in online transactions during the recent Internet Retail Expo in Gurgaon. “According to the Internet research data of UK, out of 77 per cent fraud in internet business, 67 per cent out of that is due to phishing. Online payment card fraud accounted for 63 per cent of the total fraud. With mobile connected devices, social media has brought many innovations and benefits for the business criminals use same techniques to commit crime against ordinary card holders in the most deceptive ways. It is like IED we face in terrorism or naxal areas, that is Improvised Explosive Devices. You never know in which form it will appear before you, same is the case with online fraud. Criminals come with new garb, when the news come to market then only people come, they are always ahead of the law enforcement agencies and the industries and that is the major challenge. The most important challenge in cyber space is the anonymity, which makes identity tracing a significant problem. However, this problem is further complicated when even the digital stamping of transactions in cyberspace is denied,” he added. While making online transactions, we become victim of secondary techniques. “There are two things to be noted in this regard, one is stealing your data online — it is a different crime and second is getting the data by fooling the consumers. In other words, a person is made to willfully share her/his details under a wrapper, this kind of online crime is on a steep rise in India. Criminals are coming up with new methods and such techniques that even while making a genuine transaction you can fall prey to cyber crime,” said Chaturvedi.
On the reason why mostly it is difficult to find fraudsters online is, he said, “One of the major concern is Proxied Internet Services, wherein multiple users are able to access the Internet while hidden behind a single identifiable IP address. Also, most of the time, fraudsters were left as suspects only as there are always issues in getting port numbers or private IP addresses as it is unavailable with most of the primary investigating points such as payment gateways.”
India’s Cyber Crime Police admitted that cases of phishing have been on rise in India with the ever-growing trend of Internet banking. They say as phishers sent mails randomly to customers, about 10 per cent of such e-mail recipients fall victim to these criminals’ scams losing cash to illegal transactions that could value lakh of Indian rupees. The reason why it is tough to trace transactions carried through phishing is because criminals set up multiple Internet accounts before making such transactions.
Talking about the most common cases where customers are cheated in online transactions, Chaturvedi said, “One is that you may get a call from someone saying they are from your band and you have a bill of so and so amount on your credit card. Once you will fail to acknowledge any such transaction, they will ask for your credit/debit card details to cancel the bill and once you did that, they have all necessary information. Keep in mind that banks usually do not call for any such clarifications. Secondly, one should never click on pop ups and make financial transactions. Always log through proper URl.”
Cyber experts say that India is one of the eight countries to come up with an IT Act to punish the offenders of online fraud. “But consumers need to be aware and well-educated about financial dealings online,” said Chaturvedi.