-Satyakam Ray

In the Indian context, after the boom in digital India and UPI payments across the country, one problem has arisen: online scams. A lot of scammers have emerged in this digital era, who are hell-bent on cheating innocent people and confusing them with various tricks. The cyber police and RBI have been warning the general public through many ads to stay alert while doing online transactions. So far, there’s been little success against these scammers. The Indian government has agreed that scamming/fraud has become one of the biggest problems in recent years.

It’s been a normal scenario in everybody’s daily lives. Some unknown person will call you and present a fake scenario, demanding the OTP, card details, and bank details. Sometimes an unidentified link will appear on the phone or email. If you listen to these calls or click the unknown link, there’s a 100% chance you will lose money from your account. It might be possible that all the money will be wiped out from the bank account if you behave like an ignorant person.

There’s a growing number of cases of digital arrests. A bunch of people disguised as police officers, delivery people, or even judges call you and tell you that your so-and-so delivery item is found to be full of drugs, and you are being arrested for it digitally. Then they threaten the gullible person with further legal consequences and demand a large sum of money. In this way, they dupe innocent people of various backgrounds. Even the more established, literate people are falling into this trap. Senior citizens and retired persons are easy prey for these scammers. News of widespread duping of senior citizens has been reported in the newspaper in recent years.

Online scams have surged globally. In 2024, online payment fraud losses were estimated at $ 44 billion. India reported around 22 lakh cyber incidents by 2024. The government of India has admitted that cyber fraud is a major crime. Many people have lost substantial amounts of money to these scammers, while the returns they have received have been minimal.

How do these scammers select their targets?

• Senior citizens/ retired citizens
• Housewives
• Gullible people who pick up the call and talk with them from start to finish
• any influential, rich elderly people

How to get rid of these scammers?

• Don’t pick an unknown call.
• Don’t give bank/any financial details to any unknown person.
• Don’t believe in any type of stories.
• Don’t click on the unknown links.
• Don’t open the phishing emails.
• Don’t panic at the demands of an unknown caller.
• Report any incident to the Police and cyber-police.
• Report any fraudulent transactions to the bank and RBI immediately.
• Educate near and dear ones about cyber fraud and digital arrest.

Education and awareness among people can prevent many forms of cyber fraud. The cyberbullies on the Internet can’t win if you respond with action, knowledge, and awareness.