Police advise caution on discount links, NY wishes

Visakhapatnam : Even as revellers are planning to celebrate New Year opting for at-home parties, short trips and other retreats, cybercriminals devise new ploys to deceive people.

Incorporating a variety of tactics, cyber fraudsters have been looting the gullible.

Apparently, they are not sparing even New Year celebrations as sharing digital cards, online greetings forms an intrinsic part of the occasion. Getting a hint of their innovative ploys, the cyber police are going a step further to alert people to be aware of any links that land in their mobile phones from unknown sources or contacts in the pretext of ‘New Year’ wishes or virtual greetings or digital card links or ‘APK links’.

The cyber police are leaving no stone unturned to caution the people to stay away from such links and not to respond to any unknown contacts as there is a higher scope for stealing personal and financial data, giving a free access to the fraudsters to empty the bank accounts.

Such links can come in any format. They include New Year wishes, entry passes for hotel events, dis-count links, prize rewards, etc.

Cyber police warn that scamsters will send gift links and e-cards from reputed organisations. Once they are clicked, cyber fraudsters can hack the recipient’s mobile phone, access financial and personal data effortlessly.

The recent data reveal that Rs.1,229 crore was swiped clean by the cyber criminals following various methods in the past one year.

Sharing details of the year-end data, DGP Ch Dwaraka Tirumala Rao informed that 7 lakh cybercrime cases were booked during 2023-2024 in Andhra Pradesh.

Now, with the New Year celebrations around the corner, revellers tend to get active on social media platforms as they share and forward posts, exchange greetings along with New Year resolutions.

However, the cybercriminals view it as a new opportunity to turn the occasion in their favour.

So far, they utilised digital arrests, web links, SMS and video calls, gift offers and parcel services, among a host of several others, to loot the bank accounts of the vulnerable. Following frequent drives, work-shops and alerts, the awareness about cybercrime among people has seen an increasing trend.

But with cyber fraudsters coming up with new ploys, the cyber police alert people not to fall prey to cy-bercrime. In recent days, whenever an outgoing call is placed, alerts are given through automated alert tune, cautioning people not to click links arriving from unknown sources or through social media platforms and in case they find any source suspicious. Also, they are directed to contact the 1930 help-line number.

Given the magnitude of tactics incorporated by the fraudsters, cybercrime police warn people to exercise caution and not to get carried away by discount links, e-cards or offer links.