Cybercrime in Digital World

In today’s world majority of the citizens are netizens! Known truth and getting adapted to IOT’s platform day by day. Numbers are increasing each day drastically. Right from supermarkets store to vegetable sellers on the street are dependent on IoT.

In this era, the one thing that is common across all classes of people is the Digital wallet. Digital Money has become so common today, believe me, nowadays you don’t need to carry your wallet every time you step out, Agreed? You must because that’s the reality.

Many will be happy to read the introduction because it talks only about the positive side of the IoT on the other hand negativity or rather I would say cons are many which majorly happen because of carelessness or blunder which can also be called a HUMAN ERROR! Commonly used term for human mistakes.

I am sure a few of them would have already been affected some way or the other but there are instances where Netizens had to pay a hefty price because of HUMAN ERROR.

The facts that I would be presenting here would give you a heads up and awareness about a few Cybercrimes that are happening around us

Cybercrime Trends

As you all know, Technology has been evolving at a rapid pace and so do cyber crooks. As and when technologies and cyber shields are increasing, cybercriminals are also developing their skills and trying to bypass security measures. Further in this article, I will present the latest cybercrime trends, from data breaches and phishing to cyber activism and the use of IT security tools to help you stay in the know.

There are around 16 cybercrime trends and predictions for 2022/2023. I have listed around 4 common threats.

1. BEC attacks (Business Email Compromise)

To commit this kind of cybercrime, hackers pose as vendors, suppliers, or customers, they will be able to hijack money exchanges and redirect them to their own accounts.

2. Mobile Malware

Mobile malware is also becoming more nowadays. This malware fully disables the use of Android services and forces the user to pay ransom to gain back control of the device. Users unknowingly pay the ransom and get cheated. Iran, Bangladesh, and Algeria are the countries with the most mobile malware attacks.

3. Encrypted Communication Platforms

Cybercriminals use platforms like WhatsApp and Jaber where data is very difficult to trace. Do you know? Today the messages that are sent using WhatsApp are encrypted in such a way that it would be difficult to decrypt. On the other hand, one of the criminals was using iPhone for all his illegal activities, CBI Seized the device and took it to Apple, they couldn’t unlock the device as the security was set with high encryption. This is one of the biggest.

4. Phone Calls

People posing as bank officials call you on daily basis with various offerings about cash back, credit card payments & offers, buyback offer, utilization of your unused points in cards, etc. During the conversation, they ask for OTP or personal information in the flow we tend to give the information that leads to the financial transactions and end up in losing money. For a fact I know that many of my friends and neighbors have lost thousands of rupees on their credit/debit card and when they reached out to the bank they just washed their hands by saying you have provided the OTP for the transaction and has transaction has happened only through your consent. Shocking but true!!

Though the above things are common and scary there are certain ways that we can protect ourselves from the above threats.

I would like to conclude this topic by sharing a few important links and inputs which would help us to be safe from online fraud.

No doubt that cyber crimes are increasing day by day, on the other hand, technology is also doing its best to save us from these digital crimes. You know, even our government has come up with certain initiatives to ensure we are protected. Please go through the content below which will be of your help.

When you are doing online payments ensure you don’t save your card details on the site, now the new RBI rule says customers will not be able to save the details online, in case it's allowing them to save or delete them immediately. This will protect against online purchase fraud when your username or password is hacked in the e-commerce platforms.

Do not provide OTP to any telecallers, OTP is to be typed only by you for the transactions that you do through the IVR only for secured payments.

Today we manage all our sensitive information on our mobile devices. In the event of a theft, one can gain access to all our personal and sensitive data. With that said, securing/blocking it in the event of theft is very important. Worried about how to do it? Very simple, go through about CEIR below…

Central Equipment Identity Register (CEIR), With the aim to curtail the counterfeit mobile phone market and discourage mobile phone theft, protect consumer interest, and facilitate law enforcement authorities for lawful interception, DoT intends to implement the Central Equipment Identity Registry (CEIR) that connects to the IMEI database of all the mobile Operators. CEIR acts as a central system for all network Operators to share blacklisted mobile devices so that devices blacklisted in one network will not work on other networks even if the Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card in the device is changed.

If you have registered your IMEI number in the below URL you can block it online. Follow the URL

One of the blunders we usually do today without knowing the aftereffects of it is, posting the status on various social media like Instagram, Whatsapp, Facebook, etc. Which gives the intruder the to plan his activities very well.

Suggestion, do not post your present status on any social media like I am on vacation with family/friends, etc. this would help the intruder to barge into your house without any hassles. There are many such crimes that have taken place in recent times please be careful with this.

In a nutshell, we all know that inventions help us to ease our life at the same time if it is not used wisely we will invite troubles for which we have to pay a hefty price. Using it wisely and consciously will help us to save ourselves from cybercrimes.

About Author:

Anthony Vincent, working as Operations Manager at Chimera Technologies, hobbies are playing musical instruments keyboard, rhythm pad, and guitar.