Jobat
Pandemic lockdown surged cybercrime in Madhya Pradesh and even the country. Various districts of MP, especially the rural, were under the grasp of this deadly disease and many fell prey to the dupes.
Three of such cases were reported in small town Jobat village of tribal dominated Alirajpur district in the last 15-day where accused hacked Facebook account and demanded money from the people added in the friends list.
First of such incident was reported by patwari Akhilesh Sharma, resident of Narmada Nagar, Jobat where Sharma’s son Pranjal Sharma Facebook ID was hacked by few unidentified miscreant. The accused forwarded messages to Sharma’s relative asking for money quoting medical emergency in the family. He even gave one account number while some of Sharma’s relative transferred money in the account. When Sharma’s relative called him and asked about the medical emergency, Sharma smelled the foul. He immediately called his entire relative and asked them not to forward any amount on any of account number.
Another similar incident was reported by Mahipal Ranawat of Vikas Colony, Jobat where accused hacked his facebook account and demanded money from his friends. Ranawat submitted an application at Jobat police station about the incident.
In the third incident, a hacker targeted Jitendra Rathore, an owner of Gurukripa Electricals in Jobat and duped him in similar manner.
According to experts, maximum cases of people being duped through online transactions were reported on the pretext of home delivery of food, alcohol or other items.
Experts added that amid lockdown, people are accessing social media websites more frequently in addition to watch movies and series by subscribing to web channels and also indulging in online games by installing various applications. People tend to provide and/or give permissions to access their personal information readily available on their phones, laptops and/or social media accounts in order to use the services provided by the applications.
As per a study, a spyware steals sensitive personal data of the user while, ransomware takes control over the login and other vital credentials of a person, if the application lacks authenticity. These attacks may result in huge losses to people not only financially but also otherwise.
In order to avoid such attacks it is essential to secure mobile devices, computers and applications (apps) by installing antivirus systems and making necessary changes in the security settings to prevent sensitive data from being lost or compromised.
