Stay Safe from Cyber Crimes in India 2022

Online Sextortion, Fake Instant Loan Apps, Sexting, Cyberbullying, Cyber Stalking and Harassment are common cybercrime methods in the social media space. Depending on the type of crime, target and victim must first take his friends and relatives into confidence, stop worrying and immediately must approach and report it to the concerned Cyber Crime Branch of the nearest Police Station.

Kaspersky considered APAC regions as the hot target zones in the world for cyber attacks and therefore predicted rise in cyber espionage for India in 2022. Increasing use of Digital Technology with Lack of Awareness on Cyber Security Protocols is the main reason for the increase in Cyber Crimes in India.

Not reporting the cybercrime gives rise to it and makes it a latitude for cyber criminals to exploit the online space for their entrusted interests and target more victims in the pattern as Fear and Unawareness towards Cyber Crime amongst Public is their first and foremost step towards confidence of not being caught or tracked.

The northern state of Uttar Pradesh had the highest number of cyber crimes compared to the rest of the country, with over six thousand cases registered with the authorities in 2018 alone. India’s tech state, Karnataka, followed suite that year. A majority of these cases were registered under the IT Act with the motive to defraud, or sexually exploit victims: (Source: statista.com)

Cyber Police UP (Twitter Handle: @cyberpolice_up)
साइबर अपराध के सम्बन्ध में 1930 पर तत्काल सूचित करें,
आँनलाइन शिकायत दर्ज करने के लिए http://cybercrime.gov.in पर विजिट करें।

Child Pornography or Child Sexually Abusive Material (CSAM)

Section 67 (B) of the IT Act states that “it is punishable for publishing or transmitting of material depicting children in the sexually explicit act, etc. in electronic form

Cyber Bullying

Harassment or Bullying inflicted through the use of Computers, Laptops or Mobile Phones

Cyber Grooming

Usually the Cyber Criminal targets the victims on Dating Sites, Matrimonial Portals, Social Media or Instant Messaging Apps, develops an online relationship with a young person and tricks or pressures him/ her into doing a sexual act

Online Job Fraud / Fake Job Opportunities / Fake Work From Home Opportunities

Work From Home, Get Paid with No Office Job and Online Job Fraud is an attempt to defraud people who are in need of employment by giving them false hope/ promise of better employment with higher salary, taking up commissions towards committing the Competitive Exam Based Examinations and Jobs

Online Sextortion

Cyber Extortion and Threats to distribute Private and Sensitive material using an electronic medium if he/ she doesn’t provide images of a sexual nature, sexual favors, or money. Quite commonly Loan Recovery Agents are now-a-days following these kind of threats to recover, extort the money

Phishing

Phishing is a type of fraud that involves stealing personal information such as Customer ID, IPIN, Credit/Debit Card number, Card expiry date, CVV number, etc. through emails that appear to be from a legitimate source

Fake Instant Loan Apps

Frauds and Scams related to Instant Loan Apps are already creating a alarm, lacs of people are the victims to these Instant Loan Apps, they offer Loans on Very High Charges, Low Tenures with Hefty Penalty for Non Loan Repayments. The real Scam starts when your KYC Documents are compromised, Mobile Data is misused for Extortion and one starts receiving threats of Defaming, Sharing Morphed Porn Photographs, Making your Sensitive or Personal Information Viral, so person comes into pressure of not reporting it

Vishing

Vishing is an attempt where fraudsters try to seek personal information like Customer ID, Net Banking password, ATM PIN, OTP, Card expiry date, CVV etc. through a phone call

Smishing

Smishing is a type of fraud that uses mobile phone text messages to lure victims into calling back on a fraudulent phone number, visiting fraudulent websites or downloading malicious content via phone or web

Sexting

Act of sending sexually explicit digital images, videos, text messages, or emails, usually by cell phone

SIM Swap Scam

SIM Swap Scam occurs when fraudsters manage to get a new SIM card issued against a registered mobile number fraudulently through the mobile service provider. With the help of this new SIM card, they get One Time Password (OTP) and alerts, required for making financial transactions through the victim’s bank account. Getting a new SIM card against a registered mobile number fraudulently is known as SIM Swap

Credit Card Fraud or Debit Card

Fraud Credit card (or debit card) fraud involves the unauthorized use of another’s credit or debit card information for the purpose of purchases or withdrawing funds from it. If your Debit Card or Credit Card is enabled for International Transactions, the Consequences could be even more terrible as International POS and Online Transaction even don’t require a OTP Based Withdrawals or Transactions

Impersonation and Identity Theft

Impersonation and identity theft is an act of fraudulently or dishonestly making use of the electronic signature, password or any other unique identification feature of any other person.

Spamming

Spamming occurs when someone receives an unsolicited commercial message sent via email, SMS, MMS and any other similar electronic messaging media. They may try to persuade the recipient to buy a product or service, or visit a website where he can make purchases, or they may attempt to trick him/ her into divulging bank account or credit card details.

Ransomware

Ransomware is a type of computer malware that encrypts the files, storage media on communication devices like desktops, Laptops, Mobile phones etc., holding data/information as a hostage. The victim is asked to pay the demanded ransom to get his device decrypts

Viruses, Worms, and Trojans

A computer virus is a program written to enter your computer and damage/alter your files/data and replicate itself

Website Defacement

Website Defacement is an attack intended to change the visual appearance of a website and/ or make it dysfunctional. The attacker may post indecent, hostile and obscene images, messages, videos, etc

Cyber-Squatting

Cyber-Squatting is an act of registering, trafficking in or using a domain name with an intent to profit from the goodwill of a trademark belonging to someone else

Pharming

Pharming is a cyber-attack aiming to redirect a website’s traffic to another, bogus website

Cryptojacking

Cryptojacking is the unauthorized use of computing resources to mine cryptocurrencies

Online Drug Trafficking

Online Drug Trafficking is a crime of selling, transporting, or illegally importing unlawful controlled substances, such as heroin, cocaine, marijuana, or other illegal drugs using electronic means

Espionage

Espionage is the act or practice of obtaining data and information without the permission and knowledge of the owner

Earn Money from Apps, Websites, Gaming Apps

People get lured of such advertisements or messages quite easily as they find it an easy money option, these websites or apps collect the personal information of the person, KYC or Banking Information and can use it for a Bigger Fraud/Scam by sharing it with Third Party, or may be a scam by itself