3 Ways Online Dacoits can Hack Your Bank Account

By Priyanka Sambhav

Jamtara- ‘Sabka number aayega’ a Netflix series based on reality and at this moment very close to reality. This series showed how the youth of a village- Jamtara in Jharkhand are fooling people to get access to their bank account through phishing scam and emptying their account.

This is what has been happening to many around us and irony is that calls are being suspected to be coming from Jamtara area only.

3 Frauds you should watch out for

E- Sim Verification- SIM swap

On the pretext of providing you with an upgraded SIM the fraudster are taking control of your phone by swapping your SIM with a duplicate one. They may promise you an embedded -SIM (e-sim) and then hack into your phone to rob your bank account.Hyderabad police reported that 4 men became the target of E-SIM fraud and lost 21 lakh from their account.

What is the modus operandi?

Fraudster already has some information related to you from dark web or could have bought it from a third party information seller. He knows your name, maybe some digit of your bank account and sometimes know the phone that you are using. E-sim can be enabled only in high-end phones that is why the model of phone matters.

You will be informed by an SMS that you are eligible for a new E-SIM and if you don’t have a high-end phone they may just call to say that we are upgrading your SIM or your KYC needs to be completed. Then they call you pretending to be from the telecom operator whose service you are using. They will send you a form and a link via SMS. The form will ask your details and the link is a trap. By clicking on this link you will reset your official communication address with the company. YOu will end sending a mail to your telecom operator that your email id has been changed and they need to communicate with you on a new email-Id which will belong to the fraud caller. For E- sim activation a QR code is always mailed but since you have sent the change of email-id request so QR code will land up with the fraudster. Once the new sim gets activated the old one becomes inactive and all your OTP related messages will reach to the new duplicate SIM.

What to do?

Cross-check with your telecom operator by making a call yourself

Don’t click on links shared to you through SMS or email
Whenever you are filling a form detail like bank account number, debit card number or CVV should never be shared.

2) Buy1 Get 2 Free

Pay for 1 lunch and get two free lunches- this would immediately get your attention but beware this is to lure you into a trap. Free thali offers in the name of some big restaurants are all over social media. So much so that popular South Indian chain of restaurant SagarRatna had to give notice that their name is being used to dupe people.

What is the modus operandi?

According to a news report published in Ahmedabad Mirror- a gentleman from Ahmedabad saw an ad saying a restaurant Gopi Dining hall was giving a fabulous offer. Just pay for 1 Gujrati thali and get two free thali. Cost of 1 thali was Rs 150.

Once he called the restaurant the offer was confirmed. He was asked to book the thali by paying Rs10 and clicking on a link to register himself. Then the so-called restaurant manager asked for the OTP to be shared so that registration could be completed. Till the time he was looking for first OTP , 2nd OTP landed and then third too. With just a payment of Rs 10, the account was swiped cleaned of 47,000 within seconds. So what happened? By clicking on the link the gentleman had unknowingly installed a screen-sharing app on his phone. The fraudster could see him logging into his payment wallet got access to the account details and OTP’s.

Pic- Via Whats app

What to do?

Never click on links coming from unknown people
Don’t ever share OTP
Keep in mind that there are no free lunches in the world

Little dirty secret e-mail

This is sextortion- where someone threatens to share your picture or videos with your friends and families or on social media accounts if you don’t give them money. So its a mix of blackmailing, extortion and now has a Coronavirus twist too.

What is the modus operandi?

You may receive a mail with a threat that if you don’t do as you are told your ‘dirty little secret’ will be out. We will upload your private photos or videos on social media. They may say that we have your webcam feed when you were chatting on an adult website. Blackmailer could show you some words of your password and say if we can get your password you know what more harm can we do to your image. Lastly, if you don’t listen to us we could infect your family members with Coronavirus. Attackers prey on your fear and embarrassment. There are various online chatting/dating/friendship apps and remember people you meet online aren’t who they say are. They could be criminals or hackers. They may or may not have any webcam feed or pictures of yours but they could give you a scare and you could give in.

What to Do?