Tech Talk | Think Twice Before Sharing Personal Info at Food, Shopping Outlets; Data Vulnerable to Scammers

The focus of any scammer or gang is to reach out to people either via fake text messages, website links, or calls. Officials from the department of telecommunication believe that scammers usually get the phone number and other details of their victims from places where people eat or shop.

There has been an idea that scammers may get the list of phone numbers from banks or mainly telecom operators. But according to a DoT official, many fraudsters randomly dial phone numbers or use other paths. In many cases, when people share their name and phone number while ordering food from a pizza outlet or paying the bill at a café, these places not only store such data but also become a source of data leaks.

It is believed that while there is a slight possibility of an insider at a telecom company giving away some data in exchange for money to scammers, telcos selling data to fraudsters is kind of a myth since there is not enough monetary gain. So, it is highly likely that scammers are getting the data from the market as people are sharing their information with shopping and food outlets without asking any questions.

Additionally, as per officials, it is also possible that these firms are selling the data since there is a good enough business proposition considering their size. Separately, some experts also believe that whenever cyberattacks take place and personal information gets leaked, that becomes the golden moment for scammers to store all the information and target vulnerable people to fulfil their financial agenda.

Greed and fear

Cybercrimes thrive on two factors: ‘greed’, for example offering too-good-to-be-true jobs or an unexpected gift or parcel, and ‘intimidation’ or ‘fear’, for example asking someone to pay dues on an electricity bill to avoid power cut or claiming that a victim’s KYC (know your customer) has expired.

The scammers use these factors to con people in a systematic way. The first person organises a phone SIM card, the second person opens bank accounts and payment apps on the false SIM card, and the third person impersonates. Posing as an agent of a telecom service provider, bank, or any other service agency, the third scammer makes fraud calls to citizens using fake SIM cards to obtain their details such as Aadhaar number, OTP, PIN, CVV debit or credit card details, as well as bank details. The fourth person withdraws the money once the person has been scammed.

The primary link in the chain is fake SIM cards, whose untraceability and anonymity make cybercrime investigation extremely difficult. Officials agreed that apart from fake SIM cards obtained by using fake documents to hide real identities, scammers also use anonymous or mule bank accounts to stay under the radar. Such fraudsters also pay some money to a poor person on a monthly basis to use his or her bank account to receive scammed money.

So, officials said, if people became more aware of these issues, the ‘greed’ factor will no longer exist while ‘intimidation’ can be reduced with the help of the DoT by blocking those fake SIM cards.

With the launch of ‘Sanchar Saathi’ portal and by using other methods, officials have already begun to identify and restrict scammers. But considering the sophistication of scammers, redemption is still far away.