Beware!! A simple act of kindness can lead to serious consequences

As technology booms, scammers too progress with new, smarter ways of finding loopholes to scam people. However, this time it is not a complex tech or disguise behind a scam. Yes, you read it right!! Zerodha’s CEO, Nithin Kamath, has shared a post on his social media platforms highlighting a phone scam that plays with emotions. The post has garnered wide reach, with several others sharing experiences of similar situations.

How it works ?

The scammer reaches out to you in a crowded marketplace or local gathering asking for your mobile to make an urgent call as their battery died. This kindles our emotions, where the heart takes a lead ahead of the brain. The moral values that we’ve been taught since childhood just lure us to give our mobile thinking; after all, it’s just a phone call.

What happens next could be shocking. The scammer now has physical control over your device and can consequently do whatever they wish to do. This could be ranging from a call forwarding to installing a malicious application that has permissions to record calls, read SMS, record screens, etc. They can also intercept one-time passwords (OTPs), banking notifications, and perform unauthorized transactions. The dangerous part is you will most probably never notice that your device is compromised while the scammers continue to have unauthorized access.

Tips to stay safe :)

1. Never give physical control of your electronic devices to a stranger under any circumstances.
2. Even if you are 100% confident that it is a genuine situation, make the call yourself and put it on speaker.
3. If someone urges you to do something, just make sure to ‘TAKE A DEEP BREATHE’ before you act. This approach is widely suggested for prevention from phishing mails but proves helpful under all circumstances.
4. Regularly analyze the apps installed on your device and keenly look into the permissions granted for each app. If you find anything suspicious, immediately remove all permissions and uninstall the app. Take a backup of important data and perform a factory reset of the device.
5. If you suspect a scam, act immediately by reporting the incident to the national cybercrime helpline at 1930. It’ll go a long way in protecting numerous others from losing their hard-earned money and/or reputation to perpetrators.

In a country like India with deeply rooted moral and ethical values, technical knowledge takes a back seat. People are sometimes driven by these moral values and emotional values, which come back to hurt them later. So remember it is crucial to strike a balance between being kind and exercising caution. You staying calm and making a wise decision can go a long way in maintaining a safe and secure digital transformation. From our side, AnyTool.in is also focused on educating people regarding cybersecurity. We also guarantee that we do not store any of your data on our servers whenever you use a tool. The technical stack is also focused on providing maximum functionality inside the browser and minimizing data transfer between your device and our servers to the maximum extent possible. Cheers to a safe and secure digital world!!