An analysis of cyber and banking frauds by HDFC Bank has revealed that most of the victims of cyber frauds are young and salaried individuals who can be expected to be tech-savvy. Manish Aggarwal, Head, Credit Intelligence & Control, HDFC Bank talks Mint People are generally duped and the behaviors that can protect them from cyber fraud attacks. Edited excerpt from the interview:
What is the general nature of cyber fraud in India?
First and foremost, we are not talking about cyber attacks coming from any foreign country where banking systems have been hacked. What we are talking about here is how an individual customer is duped. So, the method used to attack is very simple, and that method is social engineering. It is used to gain access to personal information.
Earlier, when people dealt with financial matters, they were a little cautious as they knew they had cash in their pockets and they had to ensure that cash was not swindled. The way the financial infrastructure has developed over the past five years and the pace at which the digital economy has grown, the general public does not know what the safeguards are.
Today, if customers are losing money, it is not because their creditworthiness has been stolen. But what is happening is that they are getting a call or they are getting an online link to click.
When we talk about social engineering, fraudsters are following a script of greed, intimidation or help. During COVID-19, scammers used scripts based on providing the drug remdesivir or oxygen concentrator to deceive people.
Tell us about the findings of your analysis of cyber fraud attacks?
We saw that fraud is happening in broad daylight. Around 65-70% of cyber frauds now happen between 7 am to 7 pm. This is contrary to the belief that fraud happens at midnight. We also found that 80-85% of the affected customers are in the age group of 22-50 years, which is expected to be tech-savvy. We found that frauds are taking place with people who are salaried class persons, who can be considered educated. We also found that fraud is occurring more with the male population and not the female population.
This means that the problem cannot be generalized. We have seen that most of the frauds are happening with people who are very active with digital transactions. Today it is not as if someone did a digital transaction for the first time and got cheated.
What can people do to avoid fraud?
There are three simple steps people can take to protect themselves from cyber fraud attacks.
First of all, don’t download anything from a link that is not a reliable source. Second, do not share your OTP, PIN or password and third, do not download the app from any untrusted source.
If people follow these three basic steps, then the problem of cyber fraud attacks will be solved by 90-95%.
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