Technology has improved a lot when compared to the last few years. So many new things have been introduced to help people. But, fraudsters are making use of technology to cheat people and make a quick buck. They have come up with a unique way to trick people of hard-earned money. Recently, fraudsters have been making use of browser notifications to wipe out money from the bank account of innocent people.
According to the people at Kaspersky Labs, browser notifications are increasingly being used by fraudsters to steal money and confidential details of innocent people. Before we talk on how this fraud is executed, let us understand what exactly browser notifications are.
Browser push notifications are the notifications that come from the websites. These notifications are pushed through your browser. You get this notification on your desktop or mobile phone, even if that particular website is not open in your browser. This system was introduced with the intention of keeping users updated on the latest happenings. These days almost every website seeks notification permission from users with a pop-up message to send notifications to them.
While push notifications are helping people stay updated, fraudsters are using it to carry out phishing scams. They send malicious links as notifications and prompt users to open a fake page. These pages are set up by fraudsters to steal personal information and financial details. Sometimes these pages even ask people to pay money to avail a prize.
A large number of people have become victims to this fraud. According to the study, in January 2017, nearly 17.2 Lakh people were targeted by malicious browser notifications and this number has grown to 55.4 Lakhs in September 2019. This shows how this fraud is rising each day.
As this fraud is increasing each day, it is very important to be careful before clicking on any push notifications. The main reason why this fraud is increasing is because this feature is widespread and is easy to take advantage of.
"We have seen a rise in push notifications being abused, as attackers continue to creatively adapt new technologies in order to trick users. Because this feature is so widespread and easy to take advantage of through social engineering schemes, we have seen rapid growth in the number of affected users," said Artemy Ovchinnikov, security researcher at Kaspersky.
To avoid this kind of fraud, you must allow notifications only for the websites you trust. Be cautious while interacting with the pop-ups. Allow notifications only if they are useful.
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