Updated on October 20th, 2022

Today, smartphones and tablets have almost replaced computers.  Seniors use smart phones not only for communicating and social networking but also for financial transactions. Be it online banking, online shopping, payment of bills, recharging of cell phones or any other financial transaction, smart phone has become the first choice. Have you ever realised as to how vulnerable you are while using your smart phones, tablets and computers online? 

Seniors are easy prey for online Fraudsters

Seniors are disproportionately targeted as victims for fraud. Taking an example from USA, it has been found that while only 35% of the American population is over 50 yrs of age, fraud victims over 50 accounted for 57% of all frauds. The story is no different in other countries as  Internet usage by 50 plus has increased substantially everywhere.

In the last 2 years during the Covid-19 period, there has been a significant increase in online shopping and transactions resulting in more people becoming victims of online fraud. 

Recent Online Fraud Incidents

The lure of dating a young woman proved too tempting for a 65-year-old Mumbai resident, who lost $60,000 (Rs 46 lakh) to a website that claimed to get him in touch with one.

A senior citizen doctor lost nearly $ 12000 (Rs 9 lakh) within an hour after a fraudster posing as the customer care executive of a power distribution company convinced him to download a remote access app on his phone and sent him a link to pay his pending bills.

In Apr 22, 2022, a retired engineer was allegedly duped of $12000(Rs 9 lakh) by a fake call centre on the pretext of giving him a job with a handsome  salary.

In Mar 22, 2022, a student from IIT-Bombay lost her savings of $6200 (Rs 4.6 lakh) when she was tempted to click on a link that lured her to earn $150 every day by completing a task of Work from Home (WFH).

Another senior citizen was duped of $ 1100 (Rs 80,000), by an online fraudster posing as a helicopter service operator.

Jacob got a email ‘Your IT refund has been processed. Pl press the link below to verify your details and receive the refund’. However, the link led him to a  phishing site where he was asked to provide pan number, unique ID number and  banking details but he never received the refund.

While on social networking site, Naresh got a pop up “See who’s viewed your profile”. Click to download. On clicking the link, what Naresh unknowingly did was to hand over access of his Facebook account, including his personal details to the hacker.

Nancy got a email ‘You have  received a Greeting Card (e-card) from a friend. Please click the Link to view the card’. Once she clicked the link, the malware was automatically downloaded and installed on her system.

 ‘Earn money from home’ is the email messages which promises regular income. In return for providing your account details to receive the payments, you install a program and become a victim of click fraud in which your clicks on ads generates per-click revenue for the spammers.

Thomas got  a message from a bank ‘you are being offered a credit card but that you just need to pay some processing fees.’ The amount was quite small and so he paid it least realising that the online fraudsters was looking for bank account info than the money itself.

Recently, a message was being circulated “Adidas is offering 2,500 free pairs of track suits in celebration of its anniversary. You are lucky to be shortlisted. Please answer the questions below and claim your  free gift.” You are then taken to a genuine looking fraudulent web site.

Vikram who was very active on social networking and dating sites was lured into not only sharing intimate photos and videos but was also prompted by his female contact  on a video chat to perform explicit acts which were secretly recorded. He was then asked to pay a fee to prevent the photos or videos from being released. 

Mr Sharma, a 62 yrs old retiree got a call from Bank, ‘Today is the last day for linking your bank account with your Unique ID number (Aadhaar) and that you will not be able to use your bank account if you do not do it within next four hours.’ On his request, the bank employee agreed to help him do it online provided he gave him all the details including the OTP that he receives. Unsuspectingly, Mr Sharma gave him all the details and to his surprise he discovered that a huge amount of money had been transferred from his account to an unknown account.

Improve awareness on Online Fraud Methods

“Pop-up Windows”  appearing to be from a legitimate source are often used to advertise expensive gadgets for free if the person provides his/her personal details. This is a phishing scam where the hacker is trying to engage in identity theft or install a malicious software on the user’s device.

A common occurrence you might have already seen are popup window which warn you that your device is infected with virus. Click to download free anti-virus software. However, when you follow the prompt, you could end up with malware instead. 

Many online pharmacies have cropped up to offer drugs and other healthcare at lower than average prices. Many of them have been found to be selling counterfeit, expired and diluted drugs.

Android phones are more vulnerable than the ones using iOS and windows. Android also is the most widely used OS. As a result nearly 98% of mobile banking attacks target Android devices. 

Malicious codes can remotely turn on microphones and camera  in Android phones  for taking pictures and listening to the conversations in the vicinity of the phone. Always be alert and do not click on any suspicious links received in email or text messages.

OTPs mostly appear as pop-up notifications on mobile phones. These pop-up messages are clearly visible, even if the mobile phone is locked. As these OTPs are send as SMS, many apps can read SMS messages.

Go through the list of online scams used by cyber criminals. Here are the Top Online Scams You Need to Avoid Today.

How to Prevent Online Frauds

DOs

If you are online and want to be sure that a site is genuine before you give any personal details, check that the website address has an https:// prefix. Phishing fake sites generally just start with the usual http:// and that missing “s” is a warning sign for you. From July 2019 onwards, Chrome is likely to mark all http:// sites as non-secure.

Make at least two separate e-mail accounts. One for financial transactions and for registering on social networking sites.

If not required, deactivate various features of credit /debit cards, viz., online transactions both for domestic and international transactions. Near Field Communication (NFC) feature should be deactivated, if the card is not to be used. Activate them only when the card usage is required.

Change all your Passwords at regular intervals

All cardholders  must sign up for SMS/email alerts with their bank/institution.

While using the credit/debit card, you must carefully check the amount displayed on the POS machine/ NFC reader. 

Cover the keypad with your other hand while entering the PIN at a POS site / ATM. 

Whenever you receive a message promising big benefit and asks for money, consider it to be a scam. 

Ignore emails and communication that create a sense of urgency such as a problem with your bank account or taxes.

Always  log out of apps and websites when you are done using them. Leaving them open on your computer or smart phone could make them vulnerable to security and privacy risks.

Check with your bankers immediately when you receive a call for personal details from a person claiming to be an employee of that bank. No bank asks for personal details through call or email.

While downloading applications, you should stick to the Apple, Google Play, or Microsoft stores, rather than third-party app stores. Always read the reviews, even in the official stores, to make sure you’re not adding anything suspicious to your device.

Be careful when choosing and installing apps. Do a little research before installing them. Check what permissions the app requires. If the permissions requested seem unreasonable, do not install the app. It could be a Trojan horse, carrying malicious code in the guise of an app.

Critically check your security and privacy settings on your social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.). Be careful of what information you post online and who all can see it. Why should everyone have access to your contact number, email address, date of birth and other personal information? Pl review.

Disable Bluetooth, infrared and Wi-Fi in public places when not in use. Criminals can easily exploit vulnerabilities in software that use these interfaces.

To avoid remembering different passwords, we generally resort to keeping one or two standard passwords for all sites which normally contain our personal details. Always have a very strong password. A password should be at least 12 letters  long or could even be a phrase and should not be predictable. Change your password periodically.

Have a password feature that locks your device until the correct PIN or password is entered. Enable this feature, and choose a reasonably strong password.

Be very careful about the ATM scams. The scammers use a device known as Skimmer which is often placed over the card swipe mechanism on. In addition, they place a small, undetectable camera nearby to record you entering your PIN. To prevent skimming frauds, Cover those keys. Keep your eyes open; visually inspect ATM machines before using them.

Be certain to make sure websites are secure when making online purchases, etc. A large amount of counterfeit products are being sold on line. When ordering from Amazon, eBay, or any other online site, always check the buyer’s ratings and reviews.

Always keep your computer current with the latest patches and updates. Make sure your phone is receiving the latest security updates.

Periodically run a reliable anti-virus program. In case your suspect that your device still has a virus, you can save your important data and perform a factory reset, which will wipe the virus from the device.

Avoid Storing debit/credit card details on the mobile and avoid using public WI-Fi for online transaction. Public WI-FI may be un-encrypted or may be a fake access point created by a hacker in the name of public WI-FI.

For privacy in browsing, use Private mode or incognito mode (in chrome) as it helps you to browse the web without storing any of your browsing history. Though not 100% secure, it gives you a fair degree of privacy.

DON’Ts

Don’t give your financial information to an individual or business you don’t know. Sometimes scammers’ calls and claim to be from Government agency asking your personal information as it require to be updated. 

Avoid calls asking for charity and donation for victims, as it may target to steal your credit card information.

Never provide details or copy of PAN Card, Aadhaar, Voter Card, Driving License, Address Proof etc. to unknown person/ organization.

Do not open /reply to Links giving any luring offer. They may compromise your personal and financial details.

Beware and never download any app on request or instruction of any unknown person to  give them remote access of your device. 

Never let the merchant take the card away from your sight for swiping while making a transaction. 

Whenever someone asks you for usernames and passwords or OTP or PIN, consider it a scam.

Never share banking details with anyone including credit and debit card number, CVV, PIN, Internet Banking User ID, OTP & Internet Banking Password. 

Never click on the links sent in dubious emails or text messages. Such links are likely to lead you to undesirable sites or prompt to download a malicious code in the guise of some useful app.

On Whatsapp, do not forward messages with links which ask you to share it with more people. Those links are likely to contain embedded malware or may lead to malware-loaded websites.