Beware of cyber criminals, warns TN police

The trend has become the second major threat itself after the pandemic across the world with several such scams being reported abroad. Tamil Nadu police for its part have warned people of SMSes with links promising to provide information on COVID-19 tests or seeking donations.

A senior official of the cybercrime wing said that they recently received information that some fake messages were doing the rounds with links seeking to donate to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund. “When we probed it, we found out there are other phishing SMSes as well that try to steal personal information including debit/credit card details of victims,” he said.

The cybercrime wing have prepared a few awareness slides to be circulated among people not to fall victims to such frauds.

“Don’t be curious to click on the link related to COVID-19 medical tests. They are scams, intended to steal your personal information,” said the cybercrime wing in their warning messages.

The other modus operandi that have been adopted by fraudsters to ask for OTPs of victims claiming to postpone their loan EMIs for three months as promised by the central government. A bank official on condition of anonymity said, “Fraudsters asking OTP to loot bank accounts that is not new. But they have adopted to the changing times and use even the pandemic threat to exploit people. Awareness need to be created about such frauds,” he said.