Con-spiracy calling: From deepfakes to innovative financial scams, how cybercrime landscape is evolving

From deepfakes in poll campaigns to innovative financial scams, the cybercrime landscape is evolving fast. here are mos you cannot miss
Every time you connect to the internet, you are at the risk of falling prey to prying cybercrooks. They can steal your personal information, hack into your bank accounts and even ruin your reputation. With technology at their disposal, they are also getting dangerously inventive — deepfakes and AI-enabled misinformation took centre stage in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls.
According to the data from the National Crime Records Bureau, between Jan 1, 2020, and May 15, 2023, netizens in Gujarat made 1.59 lakh applications on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCCRP) or helpline number 1930.It comes to 5,585 applications a month and one every 7.5 minutes on average. Only awareness can help you stay ahead of these cybercrooks and keep yourself from becoming their next target.
The impersonators: Fraudsters pose as bank execs or online shopping representatives and trick their victims into revealing their WhatsApp verification code or ask them to scan a QR code. It links the victim’s account to the fraudster’s device. They then exploit the compromised accounts to target contacts with requests for money, perpetuating the scam further.
AI calls: Scammers are now employing AI to clone voices. Victims receive calls under the pretext of emergency and the caller’s voice sounds like that of a relative/friend in distress. The victims are then asked to quickly transfer large sums of money to help their loved ones.
'Power play: Criminals pose as govt officials, intimidating victims with threats of disconnection from public utilities unless they pay the forged bills, causing fear and financial loss.
Quite respect-fool: Scammers exploit victims’ respect for the military by posing as Army officers and manipulate them into giving away their money.
Dubious policy: Fraudsters pose as employees of insurance firms and promise to help you discontinue the policy and get the surrender value. They keep demanding money from you on the pretext of releasing the amount and once you have transferred the money, they disappear.
ID scam: Cybercrooks obtain photo ID cards of people through agents who enrol citizens in various govt schemes.
Using these documents, they acquire SIM cards to make con calls to defraud people. Likewise, if you haven’t bothered to retrieve copies of your identification documents from a bank executive after an unsuccessful attempt to obtain a bank card or personal loan, you may be in for similar trouble.
Deepfakes: Deepfake videos are generated via AI tools that use facial reenactment. It involves studying pre-recorded video footage of a person and then applying their facial expressions to someone else via AI-face swap tools.
Lovestruck: Scammers posing as rich NRIs lure singles into a relationship and propose marriage to them. They then call up their targets, saying they are at an Indian airport, but can’t leave the premises without paying certain charges since they are carrying foreign currency. The victims transfer the money asked for and the crooks disappear.
Badlapur: Cybercrooks avenge perceived ill-treatment or humiliation by creating fake Instagram accounts and sending friend requests to their targets. They lure them into exchanging explicit chats and nude photos and later blackmail them or send the screenshots to the victim’s family.
Custom-Ary Call: Fraudsters posing as customs officials call up people to tell them that a parcel in their name has been found with drugs in it. They also send forged CBI letters and make video calls to the gullible target to “settle the case”. A few days ago, the Union finance ministry advised people to stay vigilant and said that customs officials never get in touch with individuals over phone or through email to ask them to remit customs duties in private accounts. Be alert.
Sim Cloning: Fraudsters gain access to a phone’s data and clone it in many ways. They can use a SIM scanner, which is a small device that enables them to scan a phone from a short distance. Sometimes, scammers make people apply for a new SIM card by sending links, which the victims unwittingly click on. This enables the fraudster to obtain key information from the victim’s mobile and replicate their digital identity.
Pharming: A type of attack where victims are directed to fraudulent websites or miscreants manipulate victims’ computer systems to collect sensitive info. Be very careful while clicking on any link.
OTP fraud: Criminals bypass OTP security by duping bank customers into revealing OTPs to access their accounts and steal money.
Crypto fraud: Gangs making fake cryptocurrencies create fake profiles of USDT traders and dupe people by offering to sell them USDT cryptocurrencies at half the market price. Once the victims invest their money, the callers go incommunicado.
CIBIL trouble: Cybercrooks have been running a distinctive scheme that exploits victims’ CIBIL scores and demand money to improve them.
Commission fraud: Scammers lure netizens into earning from movie-ticketing business. They are asked to buy tickets in bulk, and watch and rate the films to claim commission. But here’s the catch: To get the commission, they must buy more tickets.
(Un)lucky draw: Criminals hack into databases to target individuals based on their spending history, tricking them into believing they have won a prize and then extort money.
Trafficking for fraud: Syndicates lure youths with false promises of foreign jobs, particularly in Cambodia, Laos and the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone, only to force them into working at call centres engaged in credit card fraud and fraudulent cryptocurrency investments using fake applications and honey trapping.
Recruitment fraud: Cybercriminals exploit professionals by conducting fake interviews and demanding payments to register for non-existent jobs. Money is gone, and so is the promised job and the imaginary pay package.
Stock shock: Stock market junkies are lured into investing in shares with ‘upper circuit’ potential on the promise of good returns. They are made to download links. They end up investing lakhs, but get no money back.
Edu loan fraud: Shady firms “hire” students from campuses and misuse their documents to secure education loans without their knowledge. Besides irregular salaries, they also face considerable financial distress in the form of EMIs for loans they never took.
Sextortion: Cybercrooks click screenshots of their nude selves along with the faces of the hapless victims who pick their calls. They then disconnect the calls and use the screenshots to extort money out of the victims, who even include women.
Info bites back: Youngsters posting every little detail about their lives, including videos and pictures on social media about their hangouts, might become fodder for cybercrooks.
The criminals exploit these posts to scam parents, falsely claiming their children have been booked in crimes.