Scammers’ Phishing On Social Media With IRCTC & UPI Users

There is a new scam trending across the internet which is targeting Indians who post their complaints on social media, as per CRIL investigation report.

While Ashwini Vaishnaw, the Union Minister of IT, unveiled a fresh initiative titled “Stay Safe Online”.

As part of India’s G20 presidency, a report by Cyble Research and Intelligence Labs (CRIL) disclosed that there is a new trend of financial fraud in which con artists are preying on IRCTC customers and UPI users while keeping an eye on Twitter complaints.

According to various computer experts, online fraud and cybersecurity have grown to be major worries recently as the nation experiences a digital boom. 

Indians have adopted all forms of new technology as necessary, including internet payments, healthcare consultations, and education. Reports, however, also showed a sharp rise in online fraud incidents at the same time.

For instance, according to Cyber Pravah, the 3rd and 4th quarterly issues, there were 50,812 UPI fraud incidents in Q4 2021 and 1,13,137 cases in Q1 2022. 

Additionally, there was a 14% increase in internet banking fraud complaints, going from 13,791 in O4 to 34,229 in Q1 2022.

In the paper, it is said that “technology developments and the COVID-19 epidemic have also escalated the dependency on digital platforms to accomplish daily and vital operations, rendering users increasingly vulnerable to cyber threats.”

A 15.3% increase in the total number of complaints registered on the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP) between the 1st and 2nd quarters of 2022 was also attributed in large part to UPI frauds, according to data from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

According to the most recent CRIL investigation report, there is a new scam trend that preys on Indians who lodge complaints on social media sites.

Researchers discovered that con artists are increasingly monitoring Twitter and other social media platforms for clients requesting reimbursements for issues they may have encountered with IRCTC services.

According to the researchers, when users post complaints on social media, con artists take advantage of the chance to launch phishing attacks by giving them instructions to download infected files, which they then use to register the complaints and withdraw money from the victims’ bank accounts.

An Indian-based gang of con artists with financial motivations was responsible for the fraud trend. Researchers claim that despite the fact that it was first noticed in late 2020, it has just recently started focusing on social media complaints to find new victims.

Therefore, the recently launched “Stay Safe Online” campaign from the Union IT Minister and the “G20 Digital Innovation Alliance” should be taken into consideration in light of this new scam trend and potential new cyberthreats that will emerge in the upcoming months.

Given the large-scale use of social media platforms and the growing acceptance of digital payments, the (G20-DIA) initiative—which aims to increase awareness among people about the importance of staying safe online—is a reasonable initiative.