Hyderabad man loses Rs. 1 lakh while filing I-T returns
A 30-year-old professor of a city college in Hyderabad recently lost Rs. 1 lakh through phishing while filing income tax (I-T) returns online, said the Rachakonda cyber crime police. What is disturbing however, is that more such cases of online fraud are expected, as I-T returns for this year are due for filing in July. Here's all about it.
Victim's colleagues had received similar emails, indicative of a racket
"Apart from the victim, his colleagues had received similar emails. We frequently get complaints about people getting duped after they log onto a fake website," said S Harinath, assistant commissioner of police (Cyber Crime), Rachakonda.
Phishing email-related frauds are on the rise
The victim had received a phishing email which claimed to have the link for filing online income tax returns. The link led the man to a fake website with an identical I-T homepage. Such cases have been on the rise, said the Rachakonda cyber crime police, but FIRs are rarely lodged as most cases of fraud involve very little amounts of money.
Always remember to check URLs before making payments
"People need to pay more attention to the URL...We [often] do not check the URL. There are several fake websites that look exactly the same as the original but the URL will be different. Like 'www.facebook.com' might be 'faceb00k.com," added Harinath.
Over 500 reported incidences of cybercrime since January
The Rachkonda commissionerate, one of the three police commissionerates in Hyderabad, said that nearly 45 FIRs against various types of cyber crime had been registered under it recently. A common way of getting duped is visiting fake shopping websites, said the police. Notably, the number of verbal complaints against cyber crime had crossed 500 since January, just under the Rachakonda commissionerate.
