The Indian police have advised all Gurugram City residents about potential cybercriminal threats against them following the rollout of 5G SIM services in the city. This advisory came after several people have reported complaints about scammers stealing their money from their bank accounts after they clicked some links sent on their phones.
According to the residents’ reports, the unknown fraudsters sent them links via text messages and instructed them to click the attached links. Subsequently, these scammers asked for their one-time passwords (OTP), which resulted in them losing money after the actors accessed and wiped out their bank accounts.
Gurugram is one of the first Indian cities selected for the first phase of the 5G SIM services rollout.
One of the attack schemes of the text scammers was impersonating the authorities and informing the recipients of upgrading their SIM cards to 5G services by clicking the link on the text message. The authorities added that since the rollout began, massive phishing incidents have surged in the city, thus asking all the Gurugram residents to be vigilant and avoid sharing their OTPs with unknown entities.
The police also explained that when the victims click on the link attached to the text messages, the scammers obtain access to their sensitive data, such as bank information. After receiving the OTPs from the victims, the scammers use them to drain the compromised bank accounts’ funds.
Victims of such fraud campaigns are advised to report to the 1930 helpline number and request that their bank accounts be frozen. Currently, about ₹62.80 lakh have been stolen from the reported cases of the campaign, which converts to over $76,000.
Furthermore, if the victims quickly reported the case to the Gurugram Cyber Police unit, their bank accounts would be frozen, but the money withdrawn from the accounts would be returned. Aiming to spread awareness about the ongoing cybercrime campaign against the Gurugram residents, the authorities have also visited schools, universities, malls, and other public establishments.
The 5G SIM service rollout was implemented in selected cities in India last October 1 for its first phase. While there are several advantages for a network to be registered in the 5G service, security experts still stress that people must be cautious against the potential threats this latest technology brings.
