Most Indian users in the world fall victim to cyber fraud

New Delhi, Dt

As digitalization and work from home have increased in India, Indians have also been the largest loser of money through tech support scams worldwide. According to a global survey conducted by Microsoft, seven out of 10 Indian consumers have lost their money through tech support scams. Security company Avast, on the other hand, said it had detected and blocked 200,000 tech support scams in India in the first quarter of 2021.

After India, people in America, Mexico and Australia have lost their money through tech support scams. The US and Mexico have 10-10 per cent and Australia 8 per cent. Tech support scams include unwanted calls or pop-up ads on e-mails and websites that deceive users into downloading malware or paying customers for fake services. The most common example in this regard is that a pop-up ad on a website has a malfunction in your computer and users are asked to download software to remove it.

According to a report by Microsoft, the number of such scams in India has increased significantly since 2016. "As digitalization and work from home have increased in India, cyber scammers have turned their attention to India," said Mary Joe Schard, assistant general counsel, regional lead, Microsoft Digital Crime Unit, Asia.

According to the report, three times more Indians are victims of such cyber scams than other countries. According to the report, users in India have faced 3% tech support scam in a year. In 2021, 41% of Indians lost more money than in 2012. The number of phone scams in India has increased significantly. Apart from this, 3% of Indians have received unsolicited e-mails. 41% of Indians have received unsolicited calls while in 2016, 5% of Indians received such calls.

Interestingly, such scams mostly target the elderly. However, according to a recent report by Microsoft, people between the ages of 6 and 7 have been the biggest victims of such cyber scams this year, with 5 per cent of men being victims. Of those who talk to cyber scammers, 5 per cent pay Rs. 4,600 while 5% of people earn Rs. Up to 4,500 and 4% have lost more than that.

Cyber ​​fraudsters in the country are paid 3% by bank transfer. Money is also paid through gift cards, PayPal, credit cards and Bitcoin. However, 4% of cyber fraud victims have managed to get their money back. Microsoft said it receives 6,800 monthly complaints of such scams globally. However, in previous years, the global average was 12,000 monthly complaints. The survey found that by 2021, more than 5 per cent of Indians are likely to trust unsolicited contact. In 2016, the figure was 9 per cent. The survey was conducted between May 12 and 2021 on 12.5 adult Internet users in 12 countries.