In a concerning new trend, cyber fraudsters are increasingly leveraging advanced Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques to deceive unsuspecting victims, leading to a surge in online fraud cases, warn cybersecurity experts. The manipulation of SEO allows criminals to rank fraudulent websites at the top of search results, making them appear legitimate and credible, thus duping victims into sharing sensitive personal and financial information.
"Cybercriminals are becoming highly adept at using SEO to enhance the visibility of their fraudulent sites," said Rohan Nyayadhish, a cyber security expert and advocate by profession. "The tactic is simple but highly effective. Fraudsters create fake websites that mirror legitimate businesses, online stores or financial platforms," he added.
In a recent case, a 71-year-old senior citizen was duped by cyber fraudsters of ₹5.3 lakh while processing to return a charger that he purchased online for ₹800. An FIR was registered at Parvati Police Station this week regarding the matter.
According to the police, the victim is a resident of Sahakar Nagar. A few days ago, he bought a charger for his car from a well-known e-commerce company. The charger did not work, so the victim started searching for a customer care number on the particular website to return it. Getting the number from the internet, he called on it. The fraudster picked up the call and told him to receive another call for verification and pay ₹2 as a service charge. Accordingly, the fraudster sent him a link via phone messenger and asked to share a number he had received in a message. Later, he told the victim to provide OTP. The victim shared the OTP five more times. The complainant realised that he had been cheated after getting a call from his bank saying they were freezing his bank account because of back-to-back fraudulent transactions. The victim lost ₹5.36 lakh in a total of six transactions.
Vishal Ovhal, another cyber security expert, said, "Currently, the courier scam is on the rise in which fraudsters deceive the victim alleging illegal material found in their parcel. They also use dominating tactics like digital house arrest in which victims are threatened through video calls. In such cases, senior citizens and women are mostly the targets. They force them to not switch off the phone and not share the call with anyone. Many of them transfer the money to save their social reputation."
Speaking about the dummy website scam, Ovhal added, "There is a paid process to get your website at the top in search. Such websites look similar to the original. When the victim proceeds further, the money is transferred to the third person through the gateway. Bank employees could be part of such crimes while sharing victims' documents with a third party. KYC of the bank account holder should be updated but many banks ignore this, which leads to difficulties in tracking the account transaction."
"Loan apps and gaming apps are another medium of losing private information. People permit them to use and read private messages, photo galleries etc. There are many gaming apps and loan apps to which people grant access which leads to revealing their personal data. This should not be done," he further said.
Speaking to The Free Press Journal, Suresh Shinde, Senior Police Inspector Cyber Police Station, said, "Cyber criminals have multiple modus to operate the crime. Apart from taking action, we are running awareness programmes at schools, colleges and various citizen forums. Moreover, we will install hoardings and templates for public awareness. Apart from this, the public needs to cross-verify before doing any transaction. Lately, the FedEx scam is at its peak. We urge the citizens to not trust any unknown call, message and links blindly. Do not invest your savings at such unknown platforms that give you a good return. In cases if any fraud occurred, inform the local police station as soon as possible."
