DailyPost 2931
DIGITAL LAME DUCKS – SEEMS EVERYONE CAN BE DUPED
The FedEx, Customs, CBI, Mumbai Police CBI and Courtroom role play, digital arrest and ransom scam has already broken the glass ceiling of cyber-crimes many times over. The nature of victims and that too consistently leaves us in total bewilderment and also a feeling that nothing can really be done. The understanding of the mindset of the Indian people more so who are / were well placed and have money, by these scamsters is worth a master class in social engineering. The regular coverage in the media does not deter the criminals and conversely is not making the potential victims more informed.
What prompted me to write a post on nearly the same topic as yesterday is the news that a retired IAS officer has been duped of Rs.76 lakhs with the same modus operandi. Sometime back a retired DG of Punjab, who also had a stint with the Intelligence Bureau was cheated of Rs 2.5 lakhs by cyber crooks, posing as CBI officers. Before that we have a number of very senior IT executives who have faced the same fate, not to mention doctors and other such professionals. We are talking of a breed of professionals regarding whom we are generally convinced that it would be next to impossible to dupe them. Recently, an old veteran CEO was swindled out of a huge amount.
In the latest of such cases, a retired IAS officer received a call from purported Mumbai Cyber Crime. The same old digital arrest and the money being deposited to one/many bank accounts. While some arrests are in a few cases and a portion of money at times recovered, the crime is going on unabated. The booty generally turns out to be huge and no physical effort needs to be made can be a major attraction. Not denying the fact that an all out media blitzkrieg would be immensely helpful, but there is also a need to understand the mindset of the victim and what goes in their mind the sordid digital saga is on.
That needs to be conquered for sure. Not falling a trap to this crime is the easiest compared to getting out of any other criminal situation. You end the call, block it and that is the end of the story. Why don’t people take advice from anybody in such a situation? Why do people generally consent to being culpable in crimes they have not committed? Why do people not find strange movie type video calls playing out in the name of investigation? Or as a senior of mine said, “is it the pernicious nature of the governments?” We are ready to go to any extent to avoid a tussle with the government and its agencies. Strange retired senior functionaries of the government have also fallen in this trap. This riddle has to be unraveled and worked upon in a mission mode, otherwise it will be too late.
IF PEOPLE ARE WILLING TO BE FRAUDED, THE CYBER WORLD WILL NEVER FALL SHORT OF SCAMSTERS.
Sanjay Sahay
Have a nice evening.