The wedding season has begun, As it is difficult for families to go to their relatives’ houses and give wedding invitations like before, so in this digital age, invitations are also going the digital way. We have all received invitations for weddings, birthdays and other events on WhatsApp or Facebook at least once. Another reason for the increased use of digital invitations is lack of time, traffic jams, distance and it is cheaper than sending invitations by post. Cyber criminals are obtaining your trust in the guise of digital invitations and when you click on it, they hack your smartphone or computer and stealing the information contained in it and using that information for committing many cyber crimes. Police from four states have already issued warnings in the media about these digital invitation cyber scams. In this article, I am going to tell you about how cyber criminals misuse digital invitations to commit cyber crimes, how you can protect yourself from it, the legal and other remedies available to victims.
Cybercriminals send you a digital invitation file/attachment or link via email, WhatsApp, Facebook or other social media apps along with a few lines inviting you to a wedding or for any other event. Out of curiosity, if you click on the file/attachment or hyperlink provided, the malware (a type of software virus program) in it will install an application on your smartphone or computer. It will allow cybercriminals to take control of your device (smartphone or computer) or steal information on it or send all the characters you type over the internet to the cybercriminals. Then cybercriminals use that information to commit financial fraud and other cyber crimes against you.
To protect yourself from digital invitation cyber scams, you should :-
- Always follow the principle of ‘Zero Trust, Patience and Verification’ for all calls/messages/invitations and digital transactions from unknown numbers.
- Do not click on hyperlinks in messages or scan QR codes or install any applications provided in the message/email from strangers.
- Lock your social media profiles or keep them private.
- Do not accept friend requests without proper background checks.
- Use good antivirus software and update it regularly.
- Use websites like www.sitechecker.pro or www.f-secure.com/en/link-checker or www.urlvoid.com to check if the link you received is safe and click on it only after you are sure that it is safe.
- Also, open attachments or files only after checking them with your antivirus app on your device or on websites like www.attachmentscanner.com or www.f-secure.com/en/online-scanner.
If you are a victim of digital invitation fraud :-
Immediately call the cyber helpline 1930 or register a complaint on cybercrime.gov.in or at the nearest police station. Report the fraud to the bank, file a complaint and freeze the debit on the transferred amount. If you think your device is infected with malware, take a backup and format it or do a factory reset.
Legal remedies available to victims :-
You can file a criminal case at your nearest cyber or general police station under the following legal sections or as suggested by the police based on your case:
- Section 303(Theft), 319 (punishment for cheating by impersonation) and 336 and 318 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), Section 323(extract data illegally), Section 329(criminal trespass), Section 337(Forgery), Section 338(Punishment for Forgery), and Section 340(Usage of Forged document) of Bharathiya Nyaya Sanhitha(BNS).
- The Information Technology (IT) Act 2000/08 provides for Section 43 (Penalty and compensation for damage to computer, computing device etc.), Section 65 (Wrecking a computer), Section 66 (Punishment for computer related offences – person who steals data, spreads virus to a system, destroys data, hacks, or denies access to a computer or network to an authorised person), Section 66C (which provides for penalty for identity theft and fraudulent or dishonest use of a person’s identity information) and Section 66D (Punishment for fraud committed by impersonation using computer resources).