India - Phishing & Other Cyber Crimes Increasing with Rising E-banking

According to India's Cyber Crime Police, the department gets an average of four reports of phishing incidences every week.

The department says that since Internet banking has grown in India and customers increasingly adopting these services, there has been a rise in cyber attacks especially related to hacking and phishing across the nation.

Consequently, the Police have urged users of Internet banking that they exercise caution against phishing/spoof e-mails as well as phony websites that unlawfully encourage end-users to reveal their personal information.

The Cyber Crime Police, trying to clarify their view-point, pointed out the instance of a non-resident Indian whom hackers and phishers recently cheated of Rs.49,900 in an illegal attempt of money transfer into the miscreants' accounts after hacking into his online banking credentials.

A senior police officer said that it was important for customers to recheck with their bank if the banking e-mails that they might receive were authentic or not, as reported by Mid-Day on June 30, 2009.

Furthermore, the officer says that as phishers send their e-mails randomly to customers, about 10% of such e-mail recipients fall victim to these criminals' scams losing cash to illegal transactions that could value to lakhs of Indian rupees.

Officials at the Cyber-Crime department say that it is a hard task to trace such transactions carried out through phishing or hacking since criminals set up multiple Internet accounts prior to making their transactions.

The officer states that as soon as the unsuspicious bank credits the money, the amount immediately gets transferred to various accounts.

He also adds that his department has already notified the banks about such frauds and the banks in turn are alerting their customers so that the menace could stop.

Moreover, the Cyber Crime Police on their part to halt the phishing problem have advised e-mail users to understand the meaning of phishing and be aware of other Internet deceptions. Additionally, they have appealed to banks to educate their customers about Internet scams and how one could escape if he fall victim to such a fraud.

Related article: India Remains an Easy Target for Hackers in '06

» SPAMfighter News - 7/14/2009