Hyderabad: Online trading catches eye of cyber fraudsters

Hyderabad: Cyber fraud is not new, but the ways adopted by cheats, who keep inventing themselves, are a matter of concern to both the public and police. The cyber fraudsters are now on prowl to target investors who intend to park money using various methods, such as investment banking/trading.

Off late the Cybercrime departments of the City police have been receiving many complaints about people losing money as they plan to invest in online trading or online shares or purchasing stocks or through investment banking. An officer, on condition of anonymity, said, "these days there are many ads on online investment. The public are getting attracted to the investment process.

Though ads telecast on TV or YouTube are from genuine companies, but when the common man, who is fascinated to doubling his/her income and tries to know the investment process, he/she obviously is hitting Internet to get details."

"When a person browses the net for any form of investment or trading, there are numerous websites. A person then randomly clicks on a website and enters personal details, as demanded by the firm. In such a scenario, details of such persons are in public domain. They can be accessed by any bank or insurance company or a trading company.

Similarly, these details are also reaching conmen who are always trying to find ways to cheat common people," added the officer. Once a person fills form, there are chances that details are being compromised by a user himself as it is paving the way for cyber fraudsters to cheat.

If they are found by fraudsters, they directly approach the users and lure them to invest in their fake businesses (which they have been using to cheat customers). Recently the Rachakonda police arrested a person who lured many customers to invest in online trading.

As customers sought to withdraw money after getting profits, they were unable to do so because the withdrawal option was not available on the site. Police investigations revealed that the fraudster was able to cheat customers because he got hands-on information filled by them online, as they were seeking ways to invest.