Bhopal: Additional director-general of police, State Cyber Crime, Yogesh Chaudhary, on Tuesday, issued an advisory regarding phishing e-mails being sent by cyber fraudsters to various government and non-government mail IDs.
The content of such mails states that the e-mail account of the receiver has been suspended. These mails also contain a link on which the targeted account-holder is asked to click to change the password. Once the password is changed, the e-mail account gets hacked.
The ADG said that cyber crimes were on the rise in the state and various government institutions—and even private company officials—were receiving such fraudulent mails from criminals, stating, “Your e-mail ID password expired today; click on the link below to create a new password to continue e-mail services”.
As soon as the account-holder changes the password by clicking on the link, the e-mail credentials and password reach the criminals and all the personal, official and confidential information can be misused. Moreover, if the e-mail is linked to any bank account, the criminals also get access to it and the person can suffer a major financial loss.
The ADG advised all e-mail users not to download any software from any unknown e-mails as it could contain virus; it must be deleted immediately. He added that, if anyone received such fake e-mails, they must immediately contact their respective e-mail service provider and request them to temporarily block the e-mail account to prevent misuse by hackers.
Additionally, the receiver of such e-mails must send an e-mail or message to all their contacts from an alternative e-mail account and ensure that any e-mails coming from the hacked e-mail account are not entertained. Also, it is important to inform all the service providers where the hacked e-mail account is given as communication address.
Any request received from the hacked e-mail account must be immediately reported to the nearest police station or www.cybercrime.gov.in or toll-free number 155260.