Recorded calls are urging investors to sell Indian stocks before 12 March.
International calls warning of “impending destruction of the Bombay Stock Exchange and the NSE” have been flagged by the security agencies as the latest cyber-crime spreading false information about Indian stock exchanges. This is the latest in a series of heightened cyberattacks in the country where thugs have swindled Rs 10,300 crore over the past three years.
Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Ministry of Communications, has warned investors to beware of malicious recorded incoming calls from international numbers urging them to sell Indian stocks before 12 March, claiming impending destruction of BSE and NSE.
The DoT has warned that such calls are being made to cause disruption in India’s stock exchanges and trading. “Such malicious calls are initiated by anti-national elements aimed at creating panic,” the department said.
The DoT has also directed all telecom service providers to block malicious calls from such numbers. Citizens, on receiving such calls, are advised to report to DoT at help-sancharsaathi@gov.in or their telecom service providers.
According to I4C—Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre—the national cybercrime rate is 129 per hundred thousand citizens and since the launch of the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal in August 2019, over 32.6 lakh complaints have been reported on it, which resulted in 66,000 FIRs.
Officials said several online frauds are originating beyond the country’s boundaries and off-shore hubs of such crimes include Cambodia, Myanmar, Dubai and China.
Some foreign-based conmen even managed to brainwash their victims in India and lure them to their country as part of their large cybercrime racket. “In one case, Indian victims of such frauds were brought back to the country with the help of the Ministry of External Affairs,” said an official.
Almost half of the online banking frauds in the country are reported in Telangana. The state also has the dubious distinction of reporting the maximum number of OTP frauds.
While the national figure for 2022 on online banking frauds was 6,491, Telangana accounted for 3,223 cases out of these. Maharashtra reported 909 cases, Andhra 569, Uttar Pradesh 483, Odisha 434, Bihar 168, Rajasthan 109, MP 99, Jharkhand 88, Delhi 72, Gujarat 71 and Chhattisgarh 29.
The maximum number of 2,179 OTP-related frauds were reported from Telangana. Odisha reported 201 cases, while Maharashtra reported 196 cases.
The highest rate of cybercrimes per 1,00,000 citizens was reported from Delhi at 755 cases. The national capital was followed by Chandigarh with 432 cases, Haryana 381 cases, Telangana 261 and Uttarakhand 243.
Almost 24% of all sextortion scams were reported from Haryana’s Nuh or Rajasthan’s Alwar and Bharatpur.