Union home ministry annual report reveals, a new type of internet fraud known as “pig butchering scam” or “investment scam” has surfaced, enticing unemployed youths, housewives, students, and those in need to lose substantial sums of money every day.
According to the research, Google services platforms have also been used by hackers to launch these crimes.
“Google Advertisement platform provides a convenient facility for targeted advertisement from across the border. This scam, known as ‘Pig Butchering Scam’ or ‘Investment Scam’ is a global phenomenon and involves large-scale money laundering and even cyber slavery,” it said.
The pig butchering scam is said to have originated in China in 2016. It preys on unsuspecting people, with whom cybercriminals gradually gain confidence before persuading them to invest in cryptocurrencies or another profitable scheme when their money is taken. The fattening of pigs before to slaughter is the source of the comparison to slaughtering pigs.
Google and the home ministry’s Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) have teamed together to exchange threat intelligence for periodic immediate action in an effort to stop the danger.
According to the research, sponsored Facebook is being used by cybercriminals to introduce illicit loan apps in India.
“Such links are proactively identified and shared with Facebook, along with Facebook pages for necessary action,” it said.
According to the survey, WhatsApp is still the most popular social media network that Indian cybercriminals may abuse.
The report on “cybercrime complaints where Big Tech platforms have been misused” reveals that, up until March 2024, 14746 complaints were made against WhatsApp, 7651 against Telegram, 7152 against Instagram, 7051 against Facebook, and 1135 against YouTube.
“Big techs play an important role in proactive identification and action on cyber criminals. I4C has partnered with Google and Facebook for sharing intelligence and signals for proactive actions,” the report said.
According to the statement, I4C’s National Cybercrime Threat Analytical Unit (NCTAU) examines the grievances submitted through the site and generates analytical reports on the most recent patterns of cybercrime and service provider abuse.
“These reports are shared with all the concerned stakeholders, i.e., banks, wallets, merchants, payments aggregators, payment gateways, e-commerce and other departments to take preventive measures and mitigate the misuse of their platforms/services,” the report said.
According to the report, the ministry also launched a Cyber Volunteer Framework that allows citizens to sign up as cyber volunteers to report illegal content on the Internet, spread awareness of cyber hygiene, and assist law enforcement by acting as cyber experts. As of March 31, 2024, 54,833 volunteers had registered.
All stakeholders, including state and union territory law enforcement agencies, all major banks and financial intermediaries, payment wallets, cryptocurrency exchanges, and e-commerce companies, collaborate on the ministry’s integrated platform, the Citizen Financial Cyber Frauds Reporting and Management System (CFCFRMS).
According to the platform, the confiscated funds are returned to the victim after the proper legal procedure, and prompt, decisive, and system-based effective action is taken to stop the money from moving from the victim’s account to the cyber fraudster’s account.
“Since its launch in April 2021, so far this platform has been able to save more than Rs 16 billion from going into the hands of fraudsters, and thus benefiting more than 5,75,000 victims,” it said.
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