India's internet users are growing day by day and it is expected to reach 627 million in 2019. This is mainly because now the internet is easily accessible and less expensive. One can easily access the internet using their smartphone. Not just urban areas, there is also rapid growth of internet in rural areas. As the number of people using the internet is on the rise, internet frauds are also increasing and many people have lost their money to this fraud.
Internet fraud is a type of fraud which makes use of the internet. It is not a single fraud, there are numerous frauds under that. Internet fraudsters are everywhere and they come up with innovative tricks to cheat people and wipe out money from their bank account. In this blog, we will discuss the type of internet frauds
It is a method used by fraudsters to steal your personal information. Under this fraud, fraudsters send you emails by posing as a genuine or reputed company. The primary intention of sending those emails is to steal your bank details. These emails usually will have a link or attachment. If you click on those links, you will be taken to a fake website. The fake website will ask you to provide your sensitive information like card details, UPI code and other bank details. Also, clicking on such links will lead to a virus attack on your computer.
It is one of the biggest internet frauds since the past few years. Under this, fraudsters set up fake online shopping portals with the intention of cheating innocent people of their hard-earned money. In the website, they display attractive product at a very cheap rate. But, after the purchase is made by paying the money, either the fake product is delivered or the product is not delivered at all. These websites will not have any return or refund policies and also there will be no customer support team to contact.
Under identity theft, your personal information is stolen by fraudsters through the internet and used to apply for a personal loan, two-wheeler loan or a credit card with a bank. When loans are availed in your name, you will be responsible for its repayment. Banks will send you the notice for repayment. If the loan is not repaid it will have a bad impact on your credit score and you will be marked a loan defaulter.
Also, the stolen information of yours can be used to create fake social media accounts.
Work from home scam is one of the serious internet fraud. Under this, fraudsters dupe people who are looking for work from home opportunities by promising that they will earn handsome money, just by working for a few hours from home. To register for the scheme, job seekers will be asked to deposit a certain amount of money for job kit which is useful for the work. After the money is deposited, there will be no track of employers.
Lottery fraud is one among the top three internet frauds in India. Under lottery fraud, fraudsters call you or send emails and messages stating you have won a lottery worth rupees some crore. To receive the lottery money, you will be asked to transfer money online in the name of tax. Sometimes you will be asked to pay money by visiting fake websites. When you try to make payment using those websites, all your card details will be stolen.
In this busy lifestyle, people prefer online matrimonial sites to find their life partners. But, the sad part here is a lot of people lose lakhs of money while finding their soulmates on the matrimonial sites. Fraudsters dupe innocent people by creating fake profiles. Also, there are many gangs set up to carry out this fraud. Under this fraud, first, fraudsters make victims believe them. Once the trust is created, money is looted from the victims.
This fraud normally takes place during the tax season when taxpayers will be waiting for their tax refund. Fraudsters send fake refund SMS and emails to taxpayers claiming to be from the income tax department. These notifications are mainly sent with the intention of collecting their personal information like login details of I-T Department website, bank details and so on. To credit the refund money to your bank account, you will be asked to provide your sensitive bank information.
Reward points or loyalty points are offered by the credit card companies to promote the usage of a credit card. Frauds are also taken place in the name of credit card reward point. Fraudsters call credit cardholders claiming to be from their credit card company and tell them that they would help them in redeeming their credit card reward point. They create urgency among cardholders stating offer will end very soon. To redeem the reward points, cardholders will be asked to provide their card details along with OTP. Fraudsters carry out fraudulent transactions using these details.
Frauds on OLX have become very common and many people have lost their money while buying and selling products on the website. The fraud which normally takes place on OLX is, fraudsters pose as Army personnel and post their advertisement on the website. Fraudsters use the stolen Id card of army personnel to make people trust them. They collect money from the buyer for the advertised product but they will never deliver the product. Here goodwill associated with the armed forces is used by fraudsters to cheat people of their hard-earned money.
With the number of people using social media, social media frauds are on the rise. Cyberbullying is one of the biggest social media fraud to which many teenagers have fallen prey. Under cyberbullying social media sites are used to bully people. Also, there are many other social media frauds like a Facebook friend fraud.
Read this blog to know about Facebook friend fraud: https://iamcheated.indianmoney.com/blogs/woman-loses-rs-90-lakh-to-facebook-friend-fraud
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