Rise In Cyber Fraud: Commissionerate Police Warns Against Downloading Untrustworthy Mobile Apps

In view of the unprecedented surge in the number of cyber fraud cases in Bhubaneswar, Commissionerate Police on Monday warned denizens not to download any untrustworthy applications suggested to them by unknown persons.

“In many cases, the cyber criminals impersonating as officials of different establishments are convincing victims to download certain applications like AnyDesk, Quick Support and Team Viewer,” said Bhubaneswar DCP Umashankar Dash.

“If a user downloads these applications, a cyber criminal will manage to access the messages and one-time passwords sent to his/her mobile phone,” explained Dash.

The top police official advised the citizens to maintain caution and not try to download any random applications upon prompt.

“In case someone falls prey to online crimes, they immediately should report the matter to the cyber help desk of Bhubaneswar Urban Police District (UPD),” Dash said, adding that if a victim is able to report an online fraud to the help desk within an hour, it greatly increases the chances of retrieval of his/her defrauded money with the help of bank authorities.

Notably, the number of unified payments interface (UPI) frauds have witnessed a surge in recent days and the Commissionerate Police have received more than 100 such reports so far in the month of January 2022 alone. 

As per police sources, cyber fraudsters managed to loot around Rs 8 crore from the victims in Bhubaneswar last year.
 

(Edited by Suryakant Jena)