EDITORIAL
Lacunae in banking systems need to be plugged to end syndicates that fuel scams
It has become a regular occurrence now and would have been only an irritant if it wasn’t fraught with so many financial risks too. Called the ‘account takeover scam’ or more specifically a ‘friend-in-need scam’, it has happened to so many WhatsApp users. We suddenly start wondering why a close friend is asking for a transfer of money to him or her.
Under this operation, fraudsters hijack someone’s WhatsApp, email, or social media account. They then message the victim’s contacts, pretending to be the friend. Instead of asking for money directly into their own account, they typically provide details of a third-party ‘mule account’ or UPI ID, making it harder to trace them. The urgency is heightened with stories like an emergency, a medical crisis, or being stranded without funds. Trusting the familiar account, victims often transfer money quickly, even before realising the friend has been impersonated.
The message begins with something like, “I need your help. I want to transfer Rs 20,000 to a friend. There is a problem with my account. The payment is not being transferred. Can you do this? I will return it to you in the evening.”
As one social media subscriber explained, “It happened to my godchild but on Facebook. That person requested Rs 50,000 and she transferred the same via Gpay twice. She then called me to find out why I had asked her for money. It was on Saturday night, and she thought that I needed the money urgently.” We have a problem. The fraudsters understand human psychology well and are some steps ahead of both the public and the authorities.
‘Mule accounts’ (used to collect the ill-gotten earnings) are now widespread in India. Ironically enough, this has happened because digital banking has made it easy to open accounts quickly, often with weak KYC checks. At the same time, economic vulnerability pushes many people, like students, daily wage earners, or the digitally unaware, to ‘rent out’ their accounts for small commissions without realising the legal risks of doing so. Organised fraud networks exploit these accounts to move and launder stolen money. They ‘layer’ transactions through multiple holders to make tracing difficult. Add to these lapses in bank oversight, other factors are insider collusion, and criminals rapidly adapting to detection tools. Altogether, this has created an underground economy of mule accounts that fuels most cyber and financial frauds in the country.
Can we expect action? Yes, but there are ifs and buts.
You can file a complaint on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal if a fraudster has taken over a friend’s WhatsApp account and is demanding money, but the response is often uneven.
Quick reporting can sometimes help freeze ‘mule accounts’ or block further withdrawals. The portal mainly routes the complaint to the local cyber police, and recovery is rare once funds are withdrawn. So, complaining at cybercrime.gov.in should be seen as one step. At the same time, what is also essential is warning contacts, helping the friend recover their WhatsApp account, and creating an official record that may aid wider crackdowns on fraud networks.
Something urgent needs to be done to help the harassed citizen. Bank depositors, who have to face so many KYC (know your customer) checks themselves, wonder why this can’t be done to the accounts being misused for such purposes. The police need to work faster, and the social media networks like WhatsApp need to undertake faster action to restore hijacked accounts to their real owners. Such issues cannot just be ignored—they won’t go away!
