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Welcome to the world of cybercrimes

Welcome to the world of cybercrime

Shashank Purandare

Yesterday I got a taste of cybercrime directly when my facebook data was hacked and a fake account was created using my credentials. It showed my photo as profile picture and the name was displayed as Shashank Shashank. Friend requests were sent using this account. Those who accepted these received demands via facebook messenger for money to the tune of Rs. 30000 saying it was urgently needed and would be returned next day. One of my friend detected this fraud and informed the Facebook directly to delete this account. I subsequently received email from facebook informing me that such a thing has happened I asked them to delete the fake account. Quick action from Abhijit Raje saved us from a big damage. Thank you Abhijit!

One of my cousin also called me to let me know about this. The problem in this case is that the person, in whoes name the fake account is created, is not able to accsess this account. I only came to know about it through my friends. Thank you all!

Yesteday many such fake accounts were created on facebook. Sometimes more than one account was created using single person's ID. I hope FB has acted on this by now.

Since we are talking of cybercrime, let me tell you about my other experiences. I am sure many of you have experienced similar things.

First I started getting emails saying that I have won some huge lottery and to collect the money they needed my account details. Another method was to send an email saying that you have been identified as a very honest upright person (which I am, by the way!) and someone has left you large sums of money to take care of it. I of course, ignored all these emails. Next tricks were to tell you that your iphone ID, facebook Id, Netflix ID etc. are blocked and click on the link to unlock it. Once I have received an email saying that we have your personal details and we will publish them unless you pay via bitcoins.

Next, I started getting SMS on my phone containing similar messages. I again ignored all of these. Then I started getting phone calls claiming that they were speaking from some insurance company and that my policy would lapse if I did not pay the premium immediately. When I asked the policy numeber the phones were disconnected. I have one policy and that is to have no insurance policies. The callers of course, did not know about this policy of mine!!!

Recently, my wife received a phone call. The caller claimed he was an older person and said that he had borrowed some money from Shashank sir, that is me, and he wanted to return it. My wife handed the phone to me saying Shashank is here. I asked the caller how much money I gave him. He said it was about 3000 rupees. I then asked him where we had met and when. He said it was an year back in Borivilli. When I told him that I do not stay in Borivilli, he simply disconnected the phone.

These are all first hand experiences. I am sure many of you have had similar experiences. One needs to be extremely careful while using electronic gadgets like smart phone and laptops. THere are many other ways the cybercriminal can trap you. Please do not share your acoount details and passwords online. Always use two-factor authentication. Always use trusted websites with https//. Do not share otp with anyone. Do not even accept phones from unknown callers. Never use QR code to receive money.

I am particularly worried about elder people who are not fully conversent with technology and who use smart phones. They are potential victims of such crimes. These callers are adept at involving you in long talk and extracting details from you.

One last thing. You can always approach cyber crime cell. But the problem is they will act only if a crime is created. Not otherwise.

Shashank Purandare 21/08/2024