BHOPAL: Additional Director General of Police, cyber cell, Yogesh Choudhary on Wednesday issued an advisory on cyber criminals who target parents’ money by taking advantage of their children’s addiction to online games.
Many children fall in trap of online gaming and lose their parents’ money. Few cases of suicide also came to light where the child had committed suicide as he felt guilty that he lost his parents’ money.
According to ADG, many children insist on having mobile phones so that they can play online games. They use parents' mobile phone if they don’t have any.
“Most games require a player to buy an avatar, weapon or dress, to reach the next level for which an online payment is required. It has been seen that children make these payments using their parent’s online banking or debit or credit cards without informing them,” Choudhary said.
And it is only at a later stage that their parents realise it and lodge a complaint with police about cyber financial fraud.
There have been incidents wherein children have saved card and bank details in payment mode of online game and only OTP is required to make the next payment. This OTP is received by children who use parents’ mobile phones and money transaction takes place immediately. By the time the parents come to know about deduction of money, they have already lost a significant amount.
The ADG has warned parents against handing over their mobile phones to children except when they are required to attend online classes or give them mobiles that do not contain SIM cards and allow them to use internet through WiFi.
The ADGP has asked parents to be extra vigilant and keep a tab on online activity of their children. He advised them to Enable Parental Control on Play Store etc in mobile phones of all the family members and urged them not to give banking details/passwords.
He said in case parents realise that money has been deducted from their accounts and they do not receive any message on their mobile phone, they should first ask their children if they know anything about it and then lodge a complaint at nearest police station. They can also visit www.cybercrime.gov..in or call on tollfree number 155260.
