Deceptive advertisements on Facebook and Instagram impersonate well-known public figures, including the Prime Minister.
NEW DELHI: The National Cybercrime Threat Analytics Unit (NCTAU) under the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) has flagged a rise in financial fraud through deceptive advertisements on Facebook and Instagram that impersonate well-known public figures, including the Prime Minister, finance ministers and chief ministers, to promote fake govt schemes.“Victims are asked to pay purported fees or taxes to receive the benefits of these fake schemes.
In some cases, advertisements offer fake cashback rewards through scratch-cards or spin-and-win contests, tricking victims into approving UPI collect requests from fraud merchants and transferring money to fraudsters,” the NCTAU warned on Monday.Ads, majorly on meta platforms featuring manipulated/deepfake videos ostensibly show the public figures announcing and promoting a welfare scheme allegedly intended to provide financial assistance to the needy.
The advertisements listing phone numbers either offer financial assistance under a purported welfare scheme or cashback/rewards through scratch-card or spin-and-win offers.Victims are either directed to a phone number/WhatsApp chat or redirected to a fraudulent website through the advertisement in order to claim the funds/benefits of the purported scheme.
In many instances, victims receive calls from international numbers, largely Pakistan-based (+92 numbers), claiming that they have been randomly selected to receive the alleged funds.
Victims are redirected to a website and are coerced to make repeated payments under the pretext of taxes, processing fees, registration charges, verification fees or other administrative expenses in order to receive the funds and benefits.Join conversation Share your thoughts in the comments Be respectful · TOI community guidelines Victims make multiple payments and suffer substantial cumulative financial losses.
In some instances, the victims are redirected to a payment app and induced to enter their transaction PIN on the pretext of receiving the prize money.
The transaction, however, results in money being debited from the victim’s account and gets transferred to the perpetrator.NCTAU has asked users to check details of welfare schemes on the official website of the concerned department, before acting on social media advertisements.
They have been asked to verify the purpose and recipient of any fee or payment requested in connection with a welfare benefit, as well as identities of the persons claiming to represent the govt, through official channels.“Before approving a UPI collect request or entering a UPI PIN, check the transaction details… A UPI PIN is used to authorise payments, not to receive money,” cautioned NCTAU.Get the latest India News and Live updates.
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