Over 31,179 fake customer care numbers duping Indian consumers: Report

About 44% of the fake numbers are from outside India; 80% of those from India were found to be valid and still operational

Fraudsters are cashing in on the gullibility of anxious consumers trying to reach out to the customer service department of an entity by duping them with fake customer numbers and links. Cyber threat analytics company CloudSEK has detected over 31,179 fake customer care numbers defrauding consumers in 2022.

CloudSEK’s AI-powered tool XVigil found that scammers often use social media posts including brief descriptions and links along with the fake care numbers they intend to spread. The report also revealed that the embedded links redirect users to fake domains and fake Whatsapp or Telegram accounts. About 44 per cent of the fake numbers originate outside India.

Eighty per cent of the fake customer care numbers from India were found to be valid and still operational.
 

Finance and Banking the most targeted sector

Area-wise breakdown of fake customer care numbers

 

23% of the fake customer care numbers are registered in West Bengal, with Kolkata being the center of many large-scale operations.

 

Delhi and Uttar Pradesh each account for 9.3% registered numbers

 

7.3% fake numbers registered in Bihar and Jharkhand

Social Media Posts Used to Spread Fake Customer Care Numbers

Even as Facebook takes down about a billion fake accounts each quarter, 88% (15,271) of the fake numbers were distributed via Facebook ads, posts, profiles, and pages

 

6.2% of the total traffic came from Twitter