Why youth are more indulged?

Easy money, unemployment and weak cyber security

Generally, youth unemployment rates are higher than the adult unemployment rates, and India is no exception: youth unemployment in India is significantly higher than the national unemployment rate.

In 2020, the estimated youth unemployment rate in India was at 23.75 percent. According to the source, the data are ILO estimates. For the past decade, India’s youth unemployment rate has been hovering around the 22 percent mark.

The jobs, which are available, require hard work and most of youth live in dreamland of getting higher pay working less enjoying vacation which can obviously not full filled until they work hard. Scam is the third way of achieving all their dreams. Not only in India but any many countries scam call is turning out to be a business for many.

Few consider it to be an art of tricking people even in the starting of this year The US has filed lawsuits against five companies and three individuals allegedly responsible for making hundreds of millions of fake robocalls to American consumers from abroad, mostly from India, and causing massive financial losses to the elderly and the vulnerable.

When should one understand the call as a scam?

Although people are getting smart these days and not sharing any crucial details with anyone unknown over phone or e-mail but scammer are becoming smarter and using several technique to trap people.

Most of the people who are uneducated or old age mostly fall in scammers trap and share the details which should not be shared to any unknown. Sometime few well educated people also fall in the trap of these scammers and ultimately loose huge amount of money. To understand whether the call is for scam there are several points one should notice

Common types of scam calls made in India 

1) Your Credit/ Debit Card or account will soon expire: A call from an unknown landline number, claiming it to be the bank manager or bank customer relation officer, will almost threaten you to share your card details or account details. The caller will give reasons like new bank order or the credit/debit card will soon expire or you have not maintained the minimum account balance, etc.

2) I am Calling From Airtel/ Vodafone The caller, claiming to be from Airtel or Vodafone, greets you by your name and then asks whether your number is prepaid or postpaid. After verifying your details like address, DOB, etc, the caller will try to help you get a better mobile plan or some offer and ultimately, asking for bank details.

3) Missed Calls From Unknown Number: Never call back after noticing a missed call from an unknown number. Also, avoid calling back international numbers (any number that doesn’t start with +91).

4) BHIM/ Paytm upgrade Soon after the demonetisation drive took place, the likes of Paytm and the launch of BHIM gave another opportunity for scammers to encash on. These calls could to be made to the elderly to “assist” them on getting the so-called BHIM account. There could be calls claiming to be from Paytm or other mobile wallet executives to assist in mobile banking and wallets as well. Ultimately, the aim is to gather confidential banking information.

5) Call from the Income Tax department: The Income Tax Department calling a person who doesn’t belong to a tax bracket or an elderly citizen in India is almost next to impossible. While the call may be entertaining if you are aware that it’s probably a scam call, simple do not reveal any details to the so-called officer. Remember, the Bollywood movie Special 26? If CBI raids can be faked, IT officers can sound convincing as well.

Where can one complain about spam calls in India?

In case any subscriber receives unsolicited commercial communication after expiry of seven days from the date of his registration in NCPR/DND, he/she may make a complaint to the service provider through voice call or SMS to toll free short code 1909 or through DND App within 3 days of receipt of such UCC. For registering the complaint through SMS, the subscriber should forward the SMS to 1909 in the following format: The UCC, XXXXXXXXX, dd/mm/yy where XXXXXXXXXX is the telephone number or header of the UCC.

Procedure for registration in NCPR

Consumer can register his/her preference(s) in NCPR by dialling 1909 or by sending SMS to 1909. You can also register using TRAI DND 2.0 mobile app.
His/her preference in National customer Preference Register (NCPR) also known as DND Registry.

Important provisions for protection against phishing

• Information Technology Act (IT Act) 2000 – The aim of the Act is to provide legal recognition to transactions carried out by means of electronic data interchange and other means of electronic communications, commonly known as electronic commerce. Sections of IT Act 2000, dealing with punishment for cyber crimes:

• Section 65 – Tampering with computer source documents.
• Section 66 –  Computer related offences.
• Section 66A, 66B, 66 C, 66 E, 66F – Sending offensive messages, Dishonestly receiving stolen resource, Identity theft, Violation of personal Privacy, Cyber terrorism. 
• Section 67, 67A, 67B, 67 C – Publishing or transmitting obscene material, Failure to preserve and retain information by intermediaries. 
• Information Technology Act (Amendment) 2008 – It empowers the Indian government to intercept, monitor and decrypt computer systems, resources and communication devices.
• National Cyber Security Policy 2013 – Framework by Department of Electronics and Information Technology. Main objectives:
• To create a secure cyber ecosystem in the country
• To enable effective prevention, investigation and prosecution of cybercrime 
• Creating mechanisms for Security Threats, Early Warning, Vulnerability management and response to security threats.
• Promotion of Research and Development in cyber security.

Who are responsible for these kind of scams?

Telecom operators in India are responsible for most of the spam calls in the country, according to a new report by Truecaller, a caller identification app with over 150 million monthly active users in India.

According to the report, titled Truecaller Insights: Top 20 Countries Affected by Spam Calls in 2020, operators accounted for 52% of all spam calls in the country in 2020, followed by telemarketers, who comprised another 34%.

While the company noted a drop in the number of spam calls in India, the country still made it to the top 10 most spammed countries in the world. Brazil and the US are the top two, while India came ninth on the list. Truecaller noted that India was the most spammed country in the world three years ago.

 While overall spam calls in India did drop, the number of scam calls increased. Scams accounted for 9% of all spam calls in India, increasing from 6% in the last report. The company said Know-Your-Customer and One Time Password (OTP) scams are the most common amongst scam calls.

How phishing scam is executed?

Phishing is a type of social engineering attack often used to steal user data, including login credentials and credit card numbers.
It occurs when an attacker, masquerading as a trusted entity, dupes a victim into opening an email, instant message, or text message. The recipient is then tricked into clicking a malicious link, which can lead to the installation of malware, the freezing of the system as part of a ransomware attack or the revealing of sensitive information.

The overall term for these scams -- phishing -- is a modified version of 'fishing' except in this instance the one doing this fishing is the crook, and they're trying to catch you and reel you in with their sneaky email lure.

It's also likely a reference to hacker history: some of the earliest hackers were known as 'phreaks' or 'phreakers' because they reverse engineered phones to make free calls.