IT News
Mumbai, April 10
After a lock down was clamped from 25 March onwards in view of the Covid 19, cases of phishing and scamming of account have increased nearly by 25 percent in Maharashtra, as per officials of cyber crime department in Mumbai.
Phishing comes in various forms. Such messages try to induce recipients to enter passwords or other sensitive information on websites controlled by the hackers, who then use the data to take control of bank, email or other accounts. The order for people to stay in, has seen banks and all other service providers working with skeletal staff and customers are using the internet to pay bills, transfer money and even consult doctors.
Phishing cases are at peak during this period and many complaints have been filed against it on our website. Besides, we are at present cracking down on fake news, rumours and hate speeches through various technology tools. People are spreading rumours about various medicines which are useful in treating coronavirus or sending messages which may hurt communal sentiments. Such cases are also under scrutiny, DCP (Cyber Crime) Bal Sing Rajput said.
More people are using internet-based applications, so phishers are active and attacking them with various lucrative schemes to steal data from phones, including contact details and other sensitive data. It is hard to track the criminals since they are based overseas or some other remote location or are using the dark web, the officials said.
The cyber crime department has also been screening WhatsApp messages, Facebook, Instagram stories, Telegram posts and also Tik Tok videos and by now over 100 cases have been registered and dozens of individuals are being watched in Maharashtra.
The cases include 65 cases registered for spreading rumours, fake news and sharing hate messages on WhatsApp about COVID-19. Besides, 11 cases have been filed for trying to spread panic through Facebook and three cases have been filed against users of the popular video-sharing app Tik Tok. Another 19 cases have been filed against users of other social media channels.
