Today’s society is highly interactive on the web and social platforms, and the millennials are usually connected to the internet for pretty much the whole day. Moreover, the work-life of many people revolves around the internet. Whether it’s social media or any other internet-based service, staying online makes you vulnerable in every possible sense since your personal information is on the show to everyone looking vigorously.
Any malicious or harmful activity done to a person using the internet services is known as Cybercrime. Although our devices and interactions on the internet are strongly encrypted, these hackers and stalkers can find a way to get into our cyberspace. Unfortunately, too many aged people and even youngsters are victims of Cybercrime since they easily get carried away by the information offered to them over the call or through social media messages.
Look at the types of Cybercrime and see where you fall as a victim.
Common Use Cases and Types of Cybercrime
Cybercrime usually falls under two categories: criminal activities that target and second is criminal activities that take up other computers to commit crimes anonymously. Here are some specific examples of various cybercrimes happening around us:
Email and Internet Fraud
Email fraud (or email scam) uses email to deceive another person for personal benefit or harm another person. Emails are still used to scam individuals almost as soon as they became extensively utilised. A “con game,” or a dupe, can be used to commit email fraud. Confidence tactics usually prey on the victims’ innate greed and dishonesty. Spoofing, phishing, bogus offers, requests for help, etc., are some examples of email or internet fraud cybercrime in India.
Identity Theft
Identity theft is a serious problem in India (where personal information is stolen and used). This type of crime involves people who wrongfully obtain your personal information and uses it for deception, or mainly economic benefit. For example, people on social media extract information from their friends and make a fake profile out of it. They then message or DM you to ask for money, saying they got into a problem and he or she urgently needs a certain amount to get out of the problem. This is a serious identity theft that is quite common, and people all over India and beyond are victims of such frauds.
Fake Profiles on social media
There are people who make fake profiles on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, LinkedIn, etc. The fake profiles then try to connect with you and extract personal information from you. Here, the fake profiles try to connect with you through video call, DM, or text messages, record your conversation, edit them, send your friends in your list, and demand money to take it down from the internet. There are many incidents that took place in our city where fake profiles connect with you and extract personal information from you. For example, the alleged fake profile video calls you on WhatsApp and record the screen to edit it with nudes further and send it to your list of friends on Facebook. They can get your number from Facebook as well if you have provided the same over there. Now they would ask for ransom money in order to take down the video from the internet.
Financial Fraud (Credit Card Payments & Data)
Credit card fraud refers to any type of fraud involving a payment card, such as a credit or debit card. For example, the objective could be to obtain goods or services or make a payment to a criminal-controlled account. The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is a data security standard designed to assist businesses in securely processing card payments and reducing fraud. Credit cards are, however, far more secured than ever, with regulatory authorities, card issuers, and banks putting in a lot of time and effort to work with investigators all around the world to make sure that fraudsters don’t succeed. In addition, regulations that hold the card provider and bank accountable frequently protect cardholders’ money from scammers.
Aged people and naïve or uneducated people are the most vulnerable to credit card frauds. There are incidents where scammers call these people and ask them for their mail address, OTP, PIN, etc., to steal money further. You would be surprised by how many people fall for this malicious activity and make these scammers rich.
To safeguard you from credit card or financial frauds, Indian banks such as ICICI, HDFC, etc., have introduced various emergency guidelines. You can on the toll-free number given on their websites to report credit card fraud, and you can reimburse the stolen money.
Theft and sale of corporate data
The conduct of stealing information from company databases, devices, and servers is known as data theft. This type of corporate theft is a serious threat to businesses of all sizes, and it can come from both inside and outside the company. Normally, corporate data theft takes place in big or renowned companies since they have a lot of personal and financial information, making them vulnerable to these scammers or hackers. However, with the burgeoning development in technology, it is next impossible for scammers to get past the highly encrypted security system used by big organisations.
The process to report Cybercrime in Udaipur, Rajasthan
The applicant must file a cyber-crime allegation with the city’s cyber-crime cell, where they are currently living. If the claimant does not have access to any cyber cells, they can file a “First Information Report (FIR)” at the nearest police station. If the report is not acknowledged there, they might file a complaint with the Commissioner or the district level police authority office. However, cyber-crime cells are only present in Jaipur in the whole Rajasthan, so if they have to register any complaint, they are advised to go to the local/nearest police station to file a complaint.
National Cybercrime portal
If you want to report a cybercrime online, then you can log in to www.cybercrime.gov.in with the help of your mobile number to file a complaint on this portal. There are Nodal Officers in every state who are appointed under the provision of IT (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking for Access of Information by the public). The e-compliant is then sent to the local police station from the cyber-crime cell to get it resolved.
Steps to register through National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal:
- Go to the online portal
- Please click the “Report other Cyber Crime” menu option.
- You will be redirected to a new screen, and please go through the information provided and then click on the “File a complaint” button.
- Click on the “I Accept” button when you have read all the terms and conditions.
- You will now reach the login page, where you can access the “Citizen Login” section.
- Complete the details as prompted and click on the “Get OTP” button to get OTP in your registered number.
- Enter the OTP and click the “Submit” button.
- Once you have successfully logged in, the applicant will reach the “Report & Track” page.
- Fill in the complete details as prompted for Incident Details, Suspect Details, and Complaint Details one by one.
- Once you have reached the “Preview & Submit” section, you can preview the application. If every detail entered is correct, you can go ahead and click on the “I Agree” box and then click the “Confirm and Submit” button.
- You will receive an acknowledgement number, so save it for future reference and click the “OK” button to clock the popup for acknowledgement.
- Click on the “Download PDF” button to download or print the application form.
- This issue will be looked at further. To track the resolution process, please follow the department’s instructions.
Apply in-person
- The victim of Cybercrime must file a report detailing the entire incident, including a brief history.
- Go to a local cyber-crime unit. Since we do not have a cybercrime unit in Udaipur, you can go to the nearest police station.
- The applicant can record a “Zero FIR” through a policeman, then forwarded it to the nearest police station to file the complaint.
- The department will investigate this report, and the complainant will be updated on the process.
- To obtain justice, the applicant must adhere to the department’s notification.
How can you prevent Cybercrime?
While it may not be possible to eliminate Cybercrime and assure complete internet security entirely, organisations may mitigate their risk by implementing an effective cybersecurity strategy that employs a defence-in-depth approach to protect systems, networks, and data. However, when we talk about personal information and Cybercrime, it mostly depends on how we protect our data and stay aware of the information we put up on the internet. Here are a few steps to prevent Cybercrime:
- Every day there are more than 50 cases related to fake profiles on Facebook that get registered in the city. Therefore, instead of going to the police and waiting for the issue to get resolved, you can now complain on Facebook itself and get the fake ID removed. You can even call on 155260 to remove the fake profile immediately.
- Don’t pick up the call if the number is registered as spam. Beware of strange numbers and do not trust them even for a moment. They would try and lure you into things and make you share your bank information or OTP eventually. This is common among aged people, so they need to aware of the same. Even if you pick up the call by mistake or out of curiosity, don’t answer any personal question and disconnect the call as soon as you feel they are trying to entice you for something.
- You might often ignore the privacy settings on your social media accounts, but it is incredibly important. Change the privacy setting to make your post visible only for friends and your registered mobile number and email id only for friends and me to make your friend list only for me. Change the password of the account every month and keep both the mobile number and email ID connected to the account in your account. For the past few days, many cases are coming in which blackmailing is being done by making video calls on Facebook and WhatsApp. If something like this happens to you, first deactivate your ID, block the number from which they are blackmailing you, do not pay the ransom money, and report to the nearest police station. Make sure you keep the evidence, such as the registered number, recording of the call, text messages on social media, etc., to make it easier for the police to investigate further.
- To report a fake profile, log in to Facebook, open the fake profile, click on the 3 dots beside the name of the ID. You will find an option for “Find Support or Report Profile” where you will find three options to report a fake profile. If the fake profile has impersonated you then click on “Pretending to be someone” and click the ME option. If the fake profile is of your friend then click on A FRIEND, and then click on NEXT to report it further. Click on FAKE ACCOUNT if the fake ID is not from your friend list. Lastly, click on the submit button and select the DONE option. You will receive a case number in your inbox and Facebook’s team will investigate the issue on their end.
- Always use two-factor authentication apps (2FA) or physical security keys for every online account you use.
- Keep your social media platforms updated to have the recent software and security updates.
- Regularly back up data and information to minimise the impact of a ransomware attack or data breach.
We would like to thanks Manas Trivedi of Rakshasutra Foundation for his expert inputs. We hope these tips and preventative measures help you avoid falling foul of Cybercrime. However, if all else is not useful or effective, spotting that you are a victim of Cybercrime is very important so that you can go ahead and report the fraudulent activities. So, now that you understand the extent of Cybercrime through this article protect yourself from it!