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Mumbai Starting Sunday, state and city cybercrime law enforcement agencies will be on high alert for Christmas and New Year themed cybercrimes, as lakhs of phishing emails under a wide range of pretexts are being sent out to citizens with an allurement to make a quick buck. Apart from official advisories, police officers are also sending out cautionary messages on social media at individual level to ensure maximum awareness.
According to cyber police officers, the trend has been observed to be on the rise over the years, with cybercriminals adopting newer methods every year. Festivals like Diwali, Dussehra, Christmas and New Year are always preceded by a flood of phishing emails sent out indiscriminately to scores of citizens every year. Particularly from Christmas to New Year, cybercriminals have been observed to cash in on the ‘spirit of giving’ and extravagant enjoyment associated with it.
Called ‘phishing’ because it is similar to casting a wide net in the sea and catching whatever fish can be caught, phishing is among the most common and oldest forms of cybercrime, where victims are fooled into either paying money or revealing their sensitive banking details.
Officers said that the trend began with offering discounts in the name of popular retail brands, but currently the police have identified no less than 12 different types of ruses that cybercriminals are using.
Based on analysis of cyber-scams over the last several years, the cyber police officers said that cybercriminals use spoofs of online shopping websites, gift exchange scams through social media, conning the elderly by telling them that their grandchild has met with an accident, frauds in the name of temporary jobs for the festive season, offering free gift cards, fake e-cards, fake notifications of gifts being shipped, donations in the name of phony charities, ‘Santa Claus’ letters in the name of big companies, lures of discounts on certain debit or credit cards, scams in the name of travel plans at throwaway rates and scams in the name of pets for sale.
“While some of these are very old and keep getting fine-tuned to keep up with emerging trends every year, the others are relatively new ones. Particularly, ‘grandparent scams’ and ‘puppy scams’ – where pets are offered on sale for discounted prices,” said a cyber cell officer posted with a police station in north Mumbai.
Another officer, who is a cyber cell in-charge for a west Mumbai-based police station, added that in order to combat this trend, instructions have been issued to police station personnel to not just rely on official advisories issued by the Mumbai Police’s social media accounts.
“We are part of several citizens’ WhatsApp groups as part of our community outreach initiatives and have sent out detailed messages in all these groups, as well as to our individual contacts, cautioning them about types of cybercrimes and how to not fall prey to them. In some cases, we have sought help from civilian content writers or graphic designers to create infographics that make for easy and quick reading,” the officer said.
The Mumbai Police top brass believe that such messages would carry the stamp of authenticity coming from serving police officers, as opposed to messages forwarded by well-meaning yet misinformed citizens who post inaccurate or half-true messages without verifying them.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Balsing Rajput, Mumbai Cyber recommended a zero-trust policy, advising citizens to exercise abundant restraint and caution.
“Never click on any links sent by unknown sources or even from known sources if they seem suspicious. If you get a link offering discounts on e-commerce websites or if you find one while searching online, check the URL carefully. Never divulge any sensitive information related to your bank accounts to anyone, and never believe any calls from unknown persons. We are sending all of these precautions to citizens throughout the festive week in order to keep them aware and secure,” said Rajput.
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