Cybercrimes at its peak! New techniques used for financial frauds

There has been a surge in the cases of financial fraud in Bihar as cybercriminals have resorted to the hacking of phones to commit these crimes.

According to an official spokesperson of the Economic Offence Wing (EOW) Patna, the criminals are sending forged links after every digital transaction through which they hack the phones of individuals and then compel the users to send the One Time Password (OTP) by using which they empty the bank accounts.

Explaining the modus operandi, the spokesperson told IANS, "These criminals send a link to the individual after every digital transaction. When the person clicks on that link his mobile gets hacked and the fraudsters convert the amount in their bank accounts to a fixed deposit. After this, the balance in the account is seen as zero. Then an OTP is sent to the mobile number of the user and the fraudsters call the person assuring them of returning the whole amount if they share the OTP. The victims, out of desperation, share the OTP and these criminals withdraw the money in their account."

"Over 570 cases have been reported in the last four months from various districts such as Siwan, Gaya, Nalanda, Nawada, Begusarai, etc. A lot of cases might not have been reported too," he said.

74 investigating teams headed by an inspector rank officer and comprising four computer experts, one inspector, three sub-inspectors, and two constables have been constituted in the state to look into such cases.

According to the official, over 1,000 cases related to cyber fraud are reported in Bihar every year, the majority of them related to bank and online financial frauds. Apart from this, cases related to uploading derogatory videos of women, creating fake Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts, and sending obscene messages are also reported in bulk.