The tricks of siphoning off people have been improvised in the post-demonetisation economy of the country. As the webseries Jamtara portrays, scammers have innovated new ways to scam the common man of their money after 2016 as the country paced into becoming a cashless economy. As the population using online banking and as app based financial transactions have multiplied, the means and options to scam too have spearheaded with technological advancements.
In the latest incidents of scamming connected to Goa as the phishing net, a Chartered Accountant from Pune has been duped of Rs 94,000 in the guise of booking a hotel room in Goa. In another incident, a businessman has been tricked into booking an air ticket to Goa and cheated of Rs 88,000 and in yet another case a couple was duped of Rs 17,000 for booking a room for the yoga practitioners.
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As reported by Herald, in the South Goa district alone 49 cases were registered in the first 10 months of this year and lakhs of rupees siphoned off from people’s bank accounts.
Earlier this year, on July 26, replying to a question Minister of State for Home Affairs, Ajay Kumar Mishra informed the Lok Sabha that the number of cases in Goa have more than doubled. He informed that 99 cases were registered in 2021-22 as compared to 44 cases in 2020-21, whereas 66 cases were registered in 2019-20.
However, for a proper solution the right diagnoses of the issue are of paramount importance. In the case of cyber crime and online frauds the government seems not to be on the same page.
The MoS Home Affairs informed the Lok Sabha that between 2020-22, there were 23,626 cases of fraud, involving an amount of Rs 133.55 crore with extent of loss placed at Rs 48.65 crore, according to the Department of Supervision of Reserve Bank of India.
And in August, MoS Finance, Bhagwat Karad informed the Rajya Sabha, “The number of incidents and amount of loss incurred by the customers due to Phishing, Vishing and Credential/OTP compromise attributed to breach on part of the customers between 1.4.2020 to 31.3.2022 stood at 9,34,109 and Rs. 1,434.75 crore respectively.”
Two ministries of the Government of India have two different yardsticks to determine cyber frauds and therefore have very distinct data.
According to Trent University, Ontario – Canada, globally phishing attacks have increased in frequency by 667% since the onset of Covid-19 pandemic. The University defines, ‘a technique carried out over the phone (vishing), email (phishing), text (smishing) or even social media with the goal being to trick you into providing information or clicking a link to completely take over your account’.
LocalCircles conducted a survey earlier this year on the matter and found that 42% Indians surveyed experienced financial fraud in the last 3 years. While only 17% of those who experienced financial fraud were able to get their funds back, 74% of those who experienced it failed to get money back.
The survey informed that the bank account fraud, fraud by fly-by-night eCommerce operators, credit and debit card frauds account for most incidents in the last 3 years.
With such a humungous hike in the number of cases as well as the money that innocent individuals are losing every single day, the government needs to step up its efforts and course correct its direction of handling online and cyber fraud.
The world has moved a long way from absent minded trappings to unknown techniques of providing all the information to the criminals. Technological advancements have undoubtedly made transacting easy, however, the financial frauds have multiplied and fraudsters have more ways to gain access to your data.
At individual level, the RBI has been advising citizens to report any financial frauds they have experienced. To safeguard against such financial loss, experts have been advocating use of alpha-numeric password lock for email, computer and mobile phones, in such a way that it is difficult to crack. Importantly, at random intervals, one should change their account password used for making transactions.
But the onus of safeguarding its citizens’ data and providing financial security lies with the government of the day. Policy intervention needs a unison effort which all departments and branches of the government addressing the problem with the same yardsticks.
In the post-pandemic world where people are looking forward to rejuvenate their lives by travelling, tourist destinations including Goa become the high-yielding traps for fraudsters. The Goa Government may not be able to do much alone, thus the double engine sarkar will have to rope in experts to be able to crackdown on the menace.
In order to ensure that ‘Sabka Number Aayega’ remains just a webseries tagline, the government will have to act quickly and move fast while promoting online banking and cashless economy.
