Srinagar: Fake accounts have been created in Jammu and Kashmir, seeking help from people on social media. Some are claiming that they along with their families have no food to live in a bid to carry out financial frauds among other cyber criminal acts, thus warn the professionals.
As part of their modus operandi, they approach users asking them for donations. “Assalamualaikum..I need your immediate help. Can you send me Rs 30000? Will return tomorrow..I am sending you account number,” one person, Khursheed Ahmad, received a message with the sender identifying to be his friend.
Luckily, Khursheed says, he called the friend to know he treasons for “immediate need”. “I was surprised to know when feigned ignorance about it. In fact he told me it must be a fake sender approaching me for help,” he said, adding, “Fortunately I called the friend but there would be many who would be deceived by the fraudsters. Police need to act tough against such people.” INS received a number of calls in last several days, alleging that were approached online for help.
“Social media platforms are increasingly being used by cybercriminals to spy, send malicious links and carry out financial frauds,” an expert said, and referred to April report by RSA Security that shows social media frauds have increased by 43% in 2018.
“The motive behind fake social-media accounts could be to impersonate an individual with an intention to either trick specific users for getting sensitive information or spread misleading information to a larger audience. The hacker may compel users to re-direct to malicious links and download unverified files, leading the viruses or malware to spread,” the expert said, adding, “Gullible users often fall for fake accounts as these profiles are based on seemingly real identities, posing to be to be genuine people.”
