Visakhapatnam residents fall prey to cybercrime

The anxiety surrounding cybercrime and the hacking world is being quickly realized as Visakhapatnam gets embroiled in battling nefarious groups out to stealing bank account information and manipulating sensitive data.

This isn’t the stuff of far away news, films or novels anymore with incidences coming to the notice of the Andhra Police’s cyber security department in Visakhapatnam. Residents from MVP Colony and Krishna Nagar are some of the recent victims of being swindled out of money from their bank accounts.

One such incidence involves a resident from MVP colony who lost INR 60,000 from a savings account which was quickly debited from an ATM in Mumbai. The resident was notified of the incident only through SMS notifications indicating the illegal transactions.

Fraudulent ATMs and card machines aim at stealing data by duplicating information from the card only to be misused by hackers.

While banks try to bolster their defences with the latest software, hackers don’t stay far behind in upgrading their skills to bypass the newest securities in place.

However, a healthy practice of making safe financial transactions and being attentive while using cyberspace can prevent one from being an easy target.

Here are some tips to protect yourself from cybercrime

• Do not disclose ATM card details or passwords to anybody.
• Avoid sharing debit or credit card details on suspicious sites online.
• Use the latest antivirus and update operating systems and other software.
• Avoid ATMs without security personnel. Keep an eye out for hidden cameras and suspicious equipment in the machine.
• Try using pass-phrases instead of passwords with a combination of special characters and alphanumeric letters in upper and lower cases.
• Ensure that your phone’s Bluetooth is switched off when not required.
• Always report a cybercrime immediately to the nearest police station.

Address:

Cyber Crime Cell

VUDA complex

2nd floor

Visakhapatnam