The ingenuity with which scamsters go about their work is mind-boggling (Editorial)
Like the rains falling during heavy monsoon season, the online scams we run into fall intensely, with little predictability, and with absolutely no respite. Almost on a daily basis, news of some or the other new scam surfaces, quite without a warning. When you read about it in newspapers, the tendency is to simply wonder: how could this have happened at all? How did someone fall for something so silly? Yet, if, God forbid, it is our own unlucky turn, chances are that we too might fall into the trap without even realising.
One day it is a ‘digital arrest’, and on another occasion, it’s about gold ‘buyers’ duping a goldsmith with an online payment that never actually happened. The range and variety of digital scammers are simply wide, varied and mind-boggling. So much so that, had their impact not been so deadly, one would almost have admired the scammers’ ingenuity. But definitely not the dastardly purpose to which this is deployed.
In today’s Goa, a wide array of digital scams is underway. Take the case of alarming ‘digital arrest’ schemes. Under these, fraudsters impersonate police or government officials via video calls and coerce victims into transferring large sums. Recently, a Goa resident was duped of Rs 2 crore before the perpetrator’s arrest. The task-based frauds on WhatsApp lure people with small payouts before demanding escalating deposits via fake platforms.
Many senior citizens fall prey to WhatsApp account hacks, which lead to fake money-requests sent under their identities. Friends have lost money, while intending to help ‘someone in trouble’. Other scams include phony hotel or booking websites and fake resort and tour offers, including fraudulent villa transactions and even bogus water-sports bookings. In cyberspace, one finds repeated mentions of sexual scams, which end up in extortion. Then, there are cases of duping tourists with bogus listings or advance payments.
In this context, there are two issues that are topmost in everyone’s minds. Why now? And, are the authorities doing enough to tackle the same?
There are reasons not too hard to find. Goa’s recent digital boom hasn’t been accompanied with cyber awareness. Scammers understand this psychology. No wonder they are exploiting the increased internet reach, mobile payments and low digital literacy. This is particularly true among senior citizens, and hence we keep learning of the loss of retirement savings.
‘Social engineering’ is the term used as cover for the tricks of their trade. They impersonate officials, banks and others to manipulate their victims. Cross-border anonymity is also part of the problem. Some cyber crime syndicates are believed to be operating from Southeast Asia. We’ve also heard of Goans being scammed into taking up such jobs in places like Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar (or its border belt), Thailand, Vietnam or through Dubai. R N Bhaskar, researcher and consulting editor, has argued that the easy opening of bank accounts may have looked as a good idea, but this was sometimes done without insisting on verifying the identities of account holders. This, he argues, is possibly the key factor in the huge spike in cyber-crimes. The roll-out of fast internet services like 5G might have also benefitted scamsters.
To combat these threats, Goa’s cyber-crime police say it has blocked hundreds of fraudulent digital platforms, SIMs and online profiles. But obviously, much more needs to be done; this is simply not enough. A multi-faceted approach is needed. The haemorrhaging has hardly slowed.
