New Delhi: More than 30,000 people have wilt victims of investment scams in the last six months in major cities, causing financial losses of increasingly than Rs 1,500 crore. This has been disclosed in the report of the Cyber Wing of the Home Ministry. Most of the unauthentic persons are in the age group of 30 to 60 years, while Bengaluru, Delhi-NCR and Hyderabad have recorded well-nigh 65 percent of the total cases.
In this report of the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Center (I4C), Bengaluru has been described as the municipality suffering the most financial loss, written for 26.38 percent of the total loss. These cities have wilt major hotspots for cybercriminals, who are targeting innocent investors.
People weather-beaten 30–60 worth for over 76% of all victims
Analysis of the target groups revealed that most of the unauthentic people are in the working age group. Individuals weather-beaten between 30 and 60 worth for over 76 percent of total victims, indicating that fraudsters are taking wholesomeness of the financial ambitions of people in their peak earning years. Senior citizens are moreover increasingly stuff targeted, with 8.62 percent, or well-nigh 2,829 people, stuff whilom 60 years of age.
Average loss per victim approximately Rs 51.38 lakh
These scams are not trivial incidents but involve huge sums of money. The stereotype loss per victim is approximately Rs 51.38 lakh, indicating that these investment schemes are sophisticated and pose a serious threat to personal finances. The highest per capita loss was seen in Delhi in particular, where victims were defrauded of an stereotype of Rs 8 lakh. Cybercriminals use various digital channels to siphon out these scams, with messaging apps and social media platforms playing a key role.
Less use of professional networks like LinkedIn & Twitter in fraud
According to the report, messaging apps like Telegram and WhatsApp worth for well-nigh 20 percent of the total cases. The encrypted nature of these platforms and the ease of forming groups make them lulu to fraudsters. However, the report found that formal professional networks such as LinkedIn and Twitter are used much less frequently, written for only 0.31 percent of incidents. Instead, criminals prefer informal and uncontrived messaging channels.
Another important finding of the report is that the largest category of scam platforms is “Others,” which finance for 41.87 percent of the total cases. This ways that scams are happening on various platforms that have not been unmistakably identified.
