Page 4 - Cybercrime

200 foreigners, mostly Indians, held for cyber financial scams in Sri Lanka

Sri Lankan police have arrested at least 200 foreigners, the majority of them Indians, for allegedly engaging in online financial scams, a media report said on Saturday. The Criminal Investigations Department also found that funds obtained through such frauds have been deposited in bank accounts in the UK, Dubai and India. News portal NewsFirst.lk quoted officials from the Criminal Investigation Department who said that there were Chinese, Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Nepali nationals among those arrested but a majority of them were Indian nationals. About 400 computers used by the suspects are being subject to investigation. Earlier on Friday, police spokesman SSP Nihal Thalduwa said some 60 Indians were arrested on Thursday from the Colombo suburbs of Madiwela and Battaramulla and the western coastal town of Negombo. The CID had conducted simultaneous raids in these areas leading to the seizure of 135 mobile phones and 57 laptops. The crackdown was the result of a complaint from

137 Indians arrested in Sri Lanka for cyber scam; 158 mobile phones seized

At least 60 Indian nationals part of a group engaged in online financial scams have been arrested by Sri Lanka's Criminal Investigations Department. They were arrested on Thursday from the Colombo suburbs of Madiwela and Battaramulla and from the western coastal town of Negombo. According to Police Spokesman SSP Nihal Thalduwa, the CID conducted simultaneous raids in these mentioned areas, leading to the seizure of 135 mobile phones and 57 laptops. The crackdown follows a complaint from a victim who was lured into a WhatsApp group promising cash for social media interactions. Further investigation revealed a scheme where victims were coerced into making deposits after initial payments. In Peradeniya, a father-son duo admitted to aiding the fraudsters, Daily Mirror Lanka newspaper reported. Key evidence uncovered during a luxury house raid in Negombo led to the initial arrest of 13 suspects and the seizure of 57 phones and computers. Subsequent operations in Negombo yielded 19 ...

Pharma industry body mulling policy framework to guide cos on cybercrime

The Indian pharma companies are better off in terms of facing cyber-attacks now as compared to a few years ago

Man suspected of operating 'world's largest ever' cybercrime botnet held

An international law enforcement team has arrested a Chinese national and disrupted a major botnet that officials said he ran for nearly a decade, amassing at least USD 99 million in profits by reselling access to criminals who used it for identity theft, child exploitation, and financial fraud, including pandemic relief scams. The US Department of Justice quoted FBI Director Christopher Wray as saying on Wednesday that the 911 S5 botnet a network of malware-infected computers in nearly 200 countries was likely the world's largest. Justice said in a news release that Yunhe Wang, 35, was arrested May 24. Wang was arrested in Singapore, and search warrants were executed there and in Thailand, the FBI's deputy assistant director for cyber operations, Brett Leatherman, said in a LinkedIn post. Authorities also seized USD 29 million in cryptocurrency, Leatherman said. Cybercriminals used Wang's network of zombie residential computers to steal billions of dollars from financial ...

What is 'digital house arrest'? Find out how to avoid this new scam

Digital house arrest - a new form of cybercrime - involves trapping victims in their homes to defraud them where criminals create fear by making audio or video calls, impersonating law enforcement off

Indians lose Rs 7,061.51 cr to cybercrime in 4 months: All you need to know

The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) reveals that a significant chunk of these frauds originate from Cambodia, Myanmar, and Laos

Cybercrime victims must dial helpline number in case of fraud: Haryana DGP

He cautioned against falling for schemes enticing investments in trading or stock markets through WhatsApp groups and fake websites

Combating online frauds: All you need to know about 'Chakshu' and 'DIP'

Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw introduced two new initiatives, Digital Intelligence Platform and Chakshu, as measures to tackle cybercrimes

Delhi Police warns residents amid spike in 'digital house arrest' cases

Cyber crooks are now adopting a new modus operandi called 'digital house arrest', causing serious concern for Delhi Police with over 200 such cases recorded every month in the national capital, officials said. According to a police officer, 'digital house arrest' refers to a fraud where impostors impersonating law enforcement officers deceive the victims into believing that their bank account, SIM card, Aadhaar card, or other cards linked to their bank account has been used unlawfully. The fraudsters then virtually restrain the victims from moving out of the house and coerce them into paying them money, the officer said. "Digital house arrest has become a major concern nowadays. However, our special unit only investigates those cases where the cheated amount is above Rs 50 lakh," a senior police officer of the Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSO) unit of Delhi Police said. The officer said such 'cyber thugs' are technically sound and know how to convince their target

Confidential data breach in Motilal Oswal by ransomware gang LockBit

Last year, the LockBit group also attacked Indian pharmaceutical company Granules India and India's state-owned National Aerospace Laboratories, as per TechCrunch.

Over 8,600 bank accounts linked to cybercriminals frozen in Jharkhand

The maximum of 2,002 accounts were frozen in Deoghar district, followed by 1,183 in Dhanbad and 959 in Ranchi, he said

Over 8,600 bank accounts linked to cybercriminals frozen in Jharkhand

Altogether 8,674 bank accounts, allegedly linked to cybercriminals, have been frozen in Jharkhand on suspicion that these were being used for phishing activities, a CID official said on Tuesday. The maximum of 2002 accounts were frozen in Deoghar district, followed by 1,183 in Dhanbad and 959 in Ranchi, he said. We received the details of frozen accounts from the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre and prepared a district and bank-wise list of such information. "The data will be shared with the superintendent of police of all districts and banks for verification of the accounts, Jharkhand Crime Investigation Department (CID) Director General Anurag Gupta told PTI. He said that the details of such account holders would be traced. If these accounts are found fake or linked to cybercriminals, action will be taken against the account holders," he said. The CID has been carrying out a massive operation against cybercriminals in Jharkhand. As many as 495 people have been arrested fo

Cyber crimes push overall crime rate in Telangana by 9% in 2023: DGP

The overall crime rate in Telangana has increased by nearly nine per cent in 2023 compared to the previous year, mainly because of a 17.6 per cent jump in cyber crime, Director General of Police Ravi Gupta said on Friday. Addressing an annual press conference here, the official said 2023 has been an incident-free year compared to the previous one, though it was quite hectic for the police due to the legislative assembly polls held recently. A total of 2.13 lakh cases were registered by the police during the current year -- up by 8.97 per cent compared to last year, while 16,339 cyber crime cases were booked in 2023 as against 13,895 last year, which is an increase of 17.59 per cent, a press release said. During this year, the value of total property lost was Rs 151.78 crore, of which goods worth Rs 80.81 crore (53.82 per cent) were recovered, as compared to 50 per cent last year, the release said. A total of 1,362 cases of kidnapping/abduction were registered during the current yea

Telangana logs 15,297 cybercrime cases in 2022, highest in India: NCRB

Telangana registered 15,297 cybercrime cases in 2022, the highest in the country, according to the latest NCRB data. Cybercrime in the state has been on an upward trajectory, with 5,024 cases in 2020 and 10,303 in 2021, according to an analysis of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data. The data showed that among the 28 states, Telangana logged the highest number of cybercrime cases, followed by Karnataka with 12,556 and Uttar Pradesh with 10,117 in 2022. The 28 states recorded a cumulative 64,907 cybercrime cases last year. The rate of total cybercrime cases per lakh population in Telangana stood at 40.3 while the percentage of cases for which a charge sheet was filed was 17.1, according to the data. There were 624 cases of ATM frauds, 3,223 online banking frauds, 2,179 OTP frauds, 4,467 cheating frauds, 280 cyber stalking and 234 cyber blackmailing/threatening. The motive in 10,991 cases was fraud followed by extortion with 447, the data revealed.

Sharp rise in cyber crime cases in states, metros; IPC registration dips

The NCRB report shows that in States and Union Territoriess cyber crimes have seen a 24.4 percent increase

Bankman-Fried stole customer funds from start of FTX: Co-founder to jury

Sam Bankman-Fried authorised the illegal use of FTX customers' funds and assets to plug financial gaps at an affiliated hedge fund from the exchange's earliest days, FTX's co-founder Gary Wang told a New York jury on Friday, as prosecutors pressed their case that Bankman-Fried was the mastermind behind one of the biggest frauds in US history. Eventually, the losses at the hedge fund, Alameda Research, became so large that there was no way to hide them any longer, Wang said in his second day of testimony. FTX was not fine, Wang said, referring to the now-infamous tweet that Bankman-Fried wrote only a few days before the exchange filed for bankruptcy in November 2022. Prosecutors allege that Bankman-Fried, 31, stole billions of dollars from investors and customers in order to fund a lavish lifestyle in The Bahamas and buy the influence of politicians, celebrities and the public. Wang was FTX's chief technology officer and is part of what has been referred to as the inner circle of FT

Bengaluru Police bust Rs 854 cr cyber investment fraud, arrest six people

The Bengaluru Police have busted a Rs 854 crore cyber fraud scam and arrested six people who allegedly cheated thousands of victims across India on the pretext of an investment scheme, officials said on Saturday. Out of the total cheated amount, Rs five crore had been frozen, they said. The accused gang lured the victims through Whatsapp and Telegram. Initially, they were asked to invest smaller amounts ranging from Rs 1,000 to 10,000 on the pretext that they would earn Rs 1,000 to 5,000 per day as a profit, a senior police officer said. Thousands of victims invested money ranging from Rs one lakh to 10 lakh or more, he said. The money invested by the victims was dumped into different bank accounts through online payments. However, after completing the investment process, when the victim tried to withdraw the amount, they never got any refund, he added. Once the amount was collected, the accused diverted the consolidated money to mule accounts (related to money laundering), the ..

80% cybercrimes from 10 districts, Bharatpur new Jamtara: Research

Rajasthan's Bharatpur and Uttar Pradesh's Mathura have replaced Jharkhand's Jamtara and Haryana's Nuh as the infamous hotspots of cybercrime in India, according to a new study by an IIT Kanpur-incubated start-up. The study also revealed that just the top 10 districts collectively contribute to 80 per cent of cybercrimes in the country. The findings have been mentioned by the Future Crime Research Foundation (FCRF), a non-profit start-up incubated at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Kanpur, in its latest comprehensive white paper named 'A Deep Dive into Cybercrime Trends Impacting India'. Bharatpur (18 per cent), Mathura (12 per cent), Nuh (11 per cent), Deoghar (10 per cent), Jamtara (9.6 per cent), Gurugram (8.1 per cent), Alwar (5.1 per cent), Bokaro (2.4 per cent), Karma Tand (2.4 per cent) and Giridih (2.3 per cent) are the top contributors to cybercrime cases in India, collectively accounting for 80 per cent of reported incidence, the FCRF claimed. "Our analysis focuse

Top 10 epicenters make 80% of total cybercrime in India, says report

The study, released by the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur-incubated Future Crime Research Foundation, revealed alarming trends - especially pertaining to financial frauds

Financial frauds accounted for over 75% cyber crimes since 2020: Study

Financial frauds accounted for over 75 per cent of cyber crimes in the country from January 2020 till June 2023, with nearly 50 per cent cases related to UPI and internet banking, according to a new study by an IIT Kanpur-incubated start-up. Social media-related crimes such as cheating by impersonation, cyber-bullying, sexting and email phishing accounted for 12 per cent of the online offences during the period, the study showed. The findings have been mentioned by the Future Crime Research Foundation (FCRF), a non-profit start-up incubated at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Kanpur, in its latest comprehensive whitepaper 'A Deep Dive into Cybercrime Trends Impacting India'. For online financial frauds, which accounted for the maximum 77.41 per cent offences during the period, the FCRF noted that "this category is a dominant concern, covering fraudulent activities related to online financial transactions". "Subcategories include debit/credit card fraud, business email ...