Mumbai: Cops warn of Women's Day fraud

The Mumbai Police's cyber department has warned citizens about a scam that promises special gifts for Women's Day and contains malware that accesses people's bank account and card details.

The International Women's Day is celebrated on March 8, and cyber cons have been sending emails promising free gifts to women.

These emails are embedded with phishing links that scan and obtain the user's personal details, a senior cyber police officer said. It has come to light that there has been a series of such fake giveaway messages that ask a person to take a survey for free gifts. Such messages are also being circulated on WhatsApp, and induce people into downloading software that hands over mobile phones' control to the scamsters.

One such message has surfaced in the name of a retail e-commerce giant, wherein scamsters ask users to take a short quiz and stand a chance to win 'exclusive gifts'. In this case, the message was scuttled by the e-commerce firm which called it fake.

The cyber police and experts have asked netizens to stay alert. “Scamsters are looking to steal credit/debit card details and email passwords,” the officer said.

The officer said that the links sent by fraudsters to people's social media accounts have a scanner installed through a mobile app. On opening this link, the user's mobile gets scanned and frauds get the control of the device. By the time people delete this app, the information gets scanned on the mobile of hackers. The user could also be blackmailed on the basis of documents, confidential information and videos and pictures obtained from his/her phone, the police said.