Cyber Crime

In a disturbing event that highlights the growing sophistication of cybercrime, S S Sarkar, a 58-year-old professor at NMIMS College in Mumbai, fell prey to a fraudulent scheme enabled by Artificial Intelligence (AI), resulting in a large financial loss. Sarkar became entangled in a web of deception engineered by individuals who were using AI technology for vile reasons.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has raised an alarm over a surge in complaints received through the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP) regarding digital arrest scams perpetrated by cyber criminals posing as various law enforcement agencies. These complaints include instances of intimidation, blackmail, extortion, and fraudulent activities under the guise of police authorities, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the Narcotics Department, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the Enforcement Directorate, and other law enforcement entities.

SMS fraud, or "smishing", is on the rise in many countries, fuelled by the increasing use of smartphones. This is a challenge for telecom operators who are meeting at the Mobile World Congress (MWC), the sector's biggest annual gathering, in Barcelona this week.

An international law enforcement operation led by Britain's National Crime Agency and the FBI has arrested and indicted members of the Lockbit ransomware gang, in an unprecedented police operation that has struck one of the world's most notorious cybercrime gangs.

Cybercrime and data theft have become a common problem for organizations and the general public. Personal and sensitive data is being shared all over the internet by hackers without anyone's knowledge and new data breaches and invasions of privacy are recorded virtually on a daily basis. While organizations are taking strong cybersecurity measures, it is still not enough to protect people from data breaches. And things are getting worse. In the latest cybercrime, it has now been revealed that 26 billion records, which is approximately 12 terabytes of personal data and credentials from companies and organizations, were leaked. This data leak is a combination of multiple previous breaches and it has been dubbed as the 'Mother of all breaches'.

Artificial intelligence technology (AI) has grown by leaps and bounds in the last few months, but so has the number of miscreants using it to defraud people. One of the most prominent dangers emerged recently has been deepfake videos. For the unaware, deepfakes are AI-generated videos, images, and audio that are edited or manipulated to make anyone say or do anything that they did not do in real life. Deepfake videos are mostly being used by cybercriminals for illegal purposes. While nations are drafting and amending IT regulations to deal with this threat, malicious threat actors are all out to carry out these illicit activities, and deepfakes have now entered the crypto world too! Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko recently became the latest victim of deepfakes in the crypto world. Know all about it.

 Over ₹10,300 crore were siphoned off from the country by cybercriminals since April 1, 2021, of which agencies managed to successfully block around ₹1,127 crore in the country, Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) said Wednesday.

A Chinese exchange student who fell victim to a "cyber kidnapping" scam in which his parents were extorted for $80,000, was found alive but "cold and scared" in a tent in the Utah wilderness, police said. Kai Zhuang, age 17, was reported missing on Thursday after his parents in China told officials at his host high school in Riverdale, Utah that he appeared to have been kidnapped and a ransom had been requested.

 A 50-year-old tax consultant from Maharashtra's Thane district lost more than ₹11 lakh in a 'task fraud' wherein three cyber fraudsters, including two women, duped him under the pretext of providing part-time online jobs, police said. Based on the complaint lodged by the victim, a resident of Rambaug area of Kalyan, a case was registered at the Mahatma Phule Chowk police station under provisions of the Information Technology (IT) Act, they said.

Rashmika Mandanna deepfake video: Four suspects involved in uploading a deepfake video of actor Rashmika Mandana online have been tracked and the hunt is on to nab the main conspirator, police said on Wednesday. However, the four suspects turned out to be uploaders, not creators, the police said, adding that they were looking for the key conspirator in the case. Out of the four suspects, three have been tracked based on the details provided by Meta, the company that owns and operates social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.

Over the last few months, the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) has been rapid. The world's biggest tech companies have made efforts to incorporate this technology into their suite of products, making the user experience a lot more convenient. However, the rapid advancements in AI have also given rise to AI scams. Yes, even the cybercriminals have jumped on the AI bandwagon. There have been several instances where threat actors have defrauded the victim by using deepfakes or fake voices. And now shocking details have emerged of  a Lucknow man who was defrauded of Rs. 45000 when he was targeted using a fake AI-generated voice of a relative. Know what happened in this AI voice scam.

In this technology-dominated world where everyone is heavily reliant on their smartphones, laptops, tablets, and more, it has become imperative to ensure the safety of these gadgets. We keep all our personal information, data, documents, bank details, and everything handy in our smart devices. However, this creates a risk that our personal data may be leaked to scammers and hackers who can attempt to rob us of our money and private data through their manipulations. In most cases, we are not even aware that our devices have been hacked and someone is stealing our data. But now, the question arises, how can you know that your smartphone has been hacked? Well, there are some clear warning signs that may tell you that you have become a victim of cybercrime. Check out the early warning of your smartphone being hacked.

The Uttar Pradesh Police has launched an investigation after a Noida resident found herself at the receiving end of a new cyber fraud trend, wherein she was duped of more than ₹11 lakh and held under "digital arrest" for a day, officials said on Saturday.

India is being applauded for following a path of digitalization and introducing the revolutionary digital payment mode UPI. However, digitalization has also led to some serious UPI fraud and crimes. In a concerning trend, Himachal Pradesh has seen a shocking surge in cybercrime complaints. Officials have reported at least one complaint every hour which includes cases of UPI fraud, job fraud, sextortion, and blackmailing. Know what officials have reported about these cybercrime cases.

On Thursday, October 19, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted raids at 76 different locations across the nation as part of Operation Chakra-2, as per officials. The crackdown was done after the CBI registered 5 different cases, of which two were Microsoft and Amazon, involving online financial frauds.

The anticipation for GTA 6 is at an all-time high. Ever since a leak in 2022 revealed a lot of information about the early development of the game that led to Rockstar Games formally acknowledging it was working on the game, fans have been eagerly waiting for it to launch. And even when there is no launch date in sight, apart from a vague comment from Take-Two Interactive which said it can be out in either 2024 or 2025, fans continue to be hopeful of being able to play the game soon. Some bad actors have also taken note of this, and are now running scams to trap innocent gamers. One such GTA 6 scam was being run by a Twitch channel which has now been banned.

Online scams are not a new thing and have existed for long, harking back to the days of emails when the infamous ‘Nigerian Prince' spam mail was sent to trap innocent victims. However, in recent times, the scammers have grown more vicious and nefarious in their ways. One such example is the instant loan app scam. These are the apps that offer instant, hassle-free loans to people in need of money but they charge a much higher rate of interest than banks. While not all such apps are predatory, many of them are. The scammers behind these apps use every trick in the book from harassment, humiliation, and blackmail to make victims repay the money with a ridiculously high rate of interest. Check these 10 points to know how they operate and how to protect yourself from them.

In a shocking turn of events, the former Union minister for Communications and Information Technology and the sitting DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran said that cyber criminals stole Rs. 99999 from his personal savings account in Axis Bank through an online banking scam. Strangely, the scam “bypassed all normal safety protocols” as per Maran, as no OTP, a basic safety guard for online transactions via net banking, was generated by the bank. A complaint regarding this has been registered with the Cyber Crime Wing of the Greater Chennai City Police.

In one of the worst cyber attack cases, it has been revealed that cybercriminals hacked into a payment gateway account and made off with as much as Rs. 16,800 crore! Thane Police have registered an FIR, which states that a group of persons allegedly hacked into a payment gateway service provider company's account and siphoned off the funds from different bank accounts. What is even more shocking is that these cybercriminals managed to do this over a period of time without anyone actually finding out.

Cybersecurity has become a major concern because of the continuous development of new technologies and cybercriminals are using everything at their disposal to breach your bank accounts and empty it of its contents. Massive financial losses have happened to victims and getting back the same has proved to be virtually impossible. And malware is the medium through which these cybercriminals infiltrate your gadgets to spy on you, and discover your secret passwords. There is a constant threat hanging over everyone in the cyber world. The latest example to emerge is that of the Xenomorph Android malware. It has resurfaced again in its new version, and it is more dangerous than ever. Now, it has evolved into a greater threat and according to experts, it has infiltrated over 100 different banking and cryptocurrency apps. Read here to know, how it can affect you:

In a concerning revelation, cybersecurity researchers have unearthed a growing trend among cybercriminals who are ingeniously merging the sinister world of voice phishing (vishing) with One-Time Password (OTP) grabber services to amplify their illicit activities. The findings, detailed in a report by CloudSEK, a cybersecurity firm, have shed light on an evolving threat landscape.

A persistent error message greeted Dulce Martinez on Monday as she tried to access her casino rewards account to book accommodations for an upcoming business trip.

In the advanced digital age where business is booming and the general population increasingly relying on the internet and AI tools, there are some people who are abusing the technology to steal money and data. Every now and then we hear stories about scams being spread by malicious software through various apps. One of these was found recently. Experts have exposed a dangerous banking malware called MMRat, which is undetectable and even manages to evade antivirus scanning software. Know how it works.

A new online scam alert has been sounded by authorities after it was discovered that cybercriminals were utilising fake Traffic Police invoices to dupe people of their money. The fake e-challan scam alert was sent out by the Information Security Awareness (ISEA) by MeitY. In an easy-to-understand graphic that was posted on X (formerly Twitter), authorities sent a new scam alert for everyone saying, "Beware!! If you receive a link for traffic challan, don't click these links."

AN AI survey has identified the ideal email sending time on Sundays; there has been a surge in cyber attacks linked to misuse of AI; AI's impact on jobs - more disruption than elimination - this and more in our daily roundup. Let us take a look.

Technological breakthroughs have grown extremely prevalent in an increasingly digitized environment, revolutionizing the various facets of our daily lives. The growth of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in recent years has been a spectacular breakthrough, ushering in a new era of possibilities and transformations. AI technologies and applications have found their way into a variety of industries, allowing for automation, better decision-making, and overall efficiency. However, as the world embraces digitalization and artificial intelligence, it is also confronted with the darker side of this technological revolution: the new perils of cybercrime.

Phishing refers to a tactic employed by criminals who use fraudulent emails, text messages, or calls to deceive individuals and thereby steal their money and other financial information. The ultimate goal often involves luring victims into visiting a website, which can then lead to downloading malicious software onto their computers or the theft of sensitive personal data, such as bank details. These phishing messages are carefully crafted to persuade recipients to click on seemingly legitimate links, although they are actually designed to deceive. These deceptive practices can result in significant financial loss.

Cybercriminals are constantly evolving their tactics to stay ahead of cybersecurity measures, much to the despair of innocent smartphone users. This makes it crucial for users and businesses to stay vigilant and adopt robust security measures, because if they don't, they stand to lose their valuable data and money to hackers.

The tremendously popular Barbie movie that stars Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling is being misused by cybercriminals to launch malware attacks worldwide in order to cash in on the mega-blockbuster, revealed a McAfee report. These cybercriminals are luring consumers by promising free downloads of the Barbie film or tickets. Instead, when someone downloads the file, it installs data-stealing spyware!

Online scammers are taking advantage of the popularity of the Barbie movie to trick people. With so many consumers searching for Barbie-related items on the internet, cybercriminals have come up with new ways to deceive unsuspecting victims.

Every now and then we hear about someone being scammed or defrauded by cybercriminals on WhatsApp. With new technologies and innovative tricks, these tricksters always find a way to fool the general public. We recently reported a WhatsApp hack involving users falling victim to forced OTP sharing scam and WhatsApp account hijacking. This happened due to stealing of WhatsApp verification code through various means.