Observe Caution During Online Transactions
Samvada News Bureau
That only uneducated or those who are not tech savvy are duped and cheated of their money on online portals – is a misconception. This fact has recently been cor-roborated by an incident in our very own sector. A young IT professional who is a resident of F Block was duped 21000 rupees online. It so happened that this young lady advertised to sell an old piece of furniture. A person enquired about it and showed interest in buying it. To make it look authentic, he even bargained. The deal was finalized. He offered to pay through Paytm. The imposter paid an amount of one rupee citing it as a test transfer. He then asked this resident to share the QR scan code which she did. To her horror, she soon found out that an amount of 21000 was siphoned off from her account. She then quickly blocked all her online transactions to prevent further loss.
As an IT professional herself, she finds it difficult to understand or explain how she could fall prey to such a thing. The fraudsters or cheaters are very clever people. They use different means to cheat depending on the target. With naïve people who are not tech savvy, they may play on their lack of knowledge. But here this fraudster played with the emotional aspect rather than the intelligence of the lady. She had been reluctant to send the scan initially but the man had pleaded that his card/account worth 2 lacs of rupees was stuck and could only be released with the scan. The poor lady fell for this ‘poor man wanting to buy a cot for his baby’ ruse.
Another resident was cheated out of 80000 rupees similarly. These two cases from our Sector, which are not isolated cases, break the myth that only uneducated, senior citizens or technologically challenged people fall prey to online cheating. Neerja Singhal shared that she received a call saying that they were calling from the electricity department. Their electricity supply will be disconnected as the bill has not been paid. She was well aware that her bills were paid and that the department never calls to ask to pay immediately on the phone. She was saved but another senior citizen couple was not. Being old people and not wanting to be inconvenienced unnecessarily by a power failure at their home, they paid the amount and were cheated out of their money.
Some very simple tips can help you avoid becoming a victim of cybercrime. The first is to be careful while opening emails and messages from unknown senders. Secondly do not click on any suspicious links that offer gifts and rewards that are too good to be true. Also changing your passwords and PINs from time to time is a good idea. Let’s be vigilant and act smartly to prevent cyber crimes
