Tuesday, June 26, 2018

Fighting cybercrime — The decision to recruit computer geeks is the first step

Given the changing nature of crime — the focus is now shifting to cybersecurity threats — the government has deemed fit to recruit computer geeks. The need of the hour is to neutralise dangers posed by malware created by nerds sitting in some remote place with the sole objective of destabilising a country. Keeping that in mind, the government will set up state-of-the-art cyber police units at districts and sub-divisional levels, which need to be populated by those who have a thorough understanding of both hardware and software. It’s a classic case of brains replacing brawn as law-enforcers are generally recruited on the basis of their height, physical fitness and stamina. This is an altogether different ball game, where razor-sharp minds will engage in bloodless battles.

The decision to hire geeks is also in sync with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision, which seeks participation from the country’s youth to help India fight these dangers. Cybercrime is a world in itself — the virtual world leaving a trail of destruction in the real world. It ranges from bullying, email spam, phishing and online scams to identity theft, posting illegal and offensive content on the web and accessing or uploading child pornography. However, it is the attacks on computer systems that have made countries realise their vulnerabilities. There had been at least 37 major ransomware attacks on India in 2017 alone, out of which WannaCry and Petya were the deadliest.

Though India’s cybersecurity laws are evolving to take stock of such threats, they need to be made more comprehensive. There is also a crying need to develop a digital architecture that can withstand the vicious assaults. India has no shortage of talent. The government only needs to provide the right tools to these computer professionals. India should lead the global war against cybercrime.

Jaipur: ‘Corruption’ finds parking space in C-Scheme

A controversy has erupted over the proposal to increase the height of the mechanised parking building at Ashok Marg in C-Scheme. BJP councillor Anil Sharma has come out against his party and has written a letter to the Mayor and Jaipur Municipal Corporation commissioner (JMC) Ravi Jain in which he has not only opposed the move but also alleged Rs 100 crore scam.

During the previous Ashok Gehlot government, the construction of a mechanised parking on PPP mode was proposed and developer was allowed to build a 12-metre high building on the nullah for 400 vehicles’ parking and the developer was allowed to run commercial activities in the building.

According to sources, the developer had appealed to the Local Self Government (LSG) Department to increase the height of the parking building 12 to 22 metres a few days ago. The LSG department has instructed the JMC to take action in this regard. After getting information about this, BJP councillor Anil Sharma has written a letter to Mayor Ashok Lahoti and JMC Commissioner Ravi Jain opposing the increase of the height. Sharma has warned the municipal authorities that legal action will be taken against them if permission is given to increase the height of the building illegally.

“It is illegal to increase the height of the parking building. Under the contract, the height of the building cannot be increased,” said Sharma. He has alleged corruption in the parking project and said the developer is not following the contract terms. Mechanised parking must be men free as per rules. But the developer is deploying staff for 10 to 12 vehicles. The developer has not yet approved the inside layout plan of the building from the municipal corporation.

No Approval Yet
The developer is deploying staff for 10 to 12 vehicles and has yet not approved the inside layout plan of the building from the municipal corporation. Under the project, a three-storey commercial complex on Zero Setback is being built on 40 feet road, which is illegal.

Impersonation to forgery, home loan frauds see new tricks

Scammers are on the prowl in the housing space.

Housing finance regulator National Housing Bank (NHB) has alerted housing finance companies (HFCs) about over 80 specific fraudulent transactions in Maharashtra, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, among others, and asked the firms to indicate whether any housing loan has been granted to these entities. It has directed the HFCs to make in-depth inquiries before granting or renewing any facility to these fraudsters. In many cases, gaps in the anti-fraud systems and processes of the lenders have been exploited by the tricksters.

A large number of cases happened in and around Mumbai such as Vasai-Virar, Palghar, Panvel, and Pune. Fraudulent registration of already mortgaged property and misrepresentation by seller and borrower are also quite common.

In Jharkhand, a fake seller and fake borrower created the deed in the name of original seller and borrower. KYCs and income documents of the original borrower were produced for the loan. NHB said that verifications of the property papers and documents were not done properly.

A property in Delhi's Janak Puri was mortgaged with many lenders, but the legal search report did not identify that the property was mortgaged with multiple institutions. In Mumbai, swindlers posed as borrowers and appeared to be taking different premises on rent for applying for loans from different financiers.

In some cases, the con artists committed identity theft and then availed loans. In Mumbai's Vikhroli, the fraudster availed a loan of Rs 41 lakh by impersonation. The documents viz. KYC and income papers were stolen and used for availing the loan. The impersonator also availed loan from multiple institutions, according to officials who have read the NHB circular.

Stating that these fraudulent transactions have been brought to the NHB's notice by different constituents, the regulator has told the HFCs to ask branches and offices to remain alert. In almost all cases, the NHB has provided the name of the person/entity in whose account the fraud occurred, the modus operandi, serious irregularities observed and the causative factors. However, the name of the lending institution(s) which witnessed the fraud act was not disclosed.

With HFCs interested in giving loans in sync with the government's housing for all mission, many fraudsters have tried to game the system.

Deo Shankar Tripathi, MD and CEO, Aadhar Housing Finance, said, "The most common fraud is multiple financing on the same property by fabricating the tiitle deeds and various know your customer (KYC) documents of customers and sellers. Profile funding taken by builders by organising a set of customers and availing loan in their name. Frauds are also committed by submission of fabricated financial documents as well as fake employee certificates in cash salary cases."

Weighed under heavy debt burden, sometimes customers willingly participated in frauds. In Rajasthan, a property was sold through duplicate/fake title deeds even though the legal title is with the lending institution. In this case, the customer was stuck in debt trap and acted fraudulently with financers.

Fraudsters are also using new methods, as the fraud monitoring and catching methods have gaping holes.

In Bangalore, it was found that there is a group of people who are involved in fraudulent sales and have defrauded a number of financial institutions. The group first identifies unclaimed properties in the city. Thereafter, they study every detail of the property including possible weakness in the property chain. To establish a connection with an old transaction in the property, they create fake documents and hire individuals who impersonated the identity of true owners of the property to get these documents registered with sub-registrar. Once a connection is established, they enter into a sale transaction within the group to avail home loans. Further, to establish credibility and to gain easy approvals from financial institutions, these individuals create a good credit history by creating repayment track records, income papers, business establishments, bank accounts etc.

In some cases, fraudsters -- the customer and his team -- book flats with a nominal advance and apply loans from different financial companies. Based on the loan sanction condition, they make forged documents and submit the same with financial institutions and receive the sanctioned amounts in their account opened in the name of the builder.

In Delhi and Rohtak, the NHB came across cases where the field investigation (FI) agency and valuer did not show due diligence while performing their job. The FI reports and valuation reports were managed by the direct selling agent or the DSA.

MODUS OPERANDI
Fraudulent registration of already mortgaged property and misrepresentation by seller and borrower are also quite common 
Frauds are committed by submission of fabricated financial documents as well as fake employee certificates in cash salary cases

Saturday, June 23, 2018

Crook cheats woman Facebook pal of Rs 11 lakh in Mumbai

Making friends with a stranger on Facebook turned out to be costly for a Malad-based woman. The woman was befriended by a cyber crook, who induced her to pay Rs 11.19 lakh in different bank accounts and in return promised to give her 30,000 Euros as a gift.

"While surfing Facebook on June 6, the woman came across the profile of a stranger who had sent her a request. An unsuspecting Yadav accepted the request and then, the con game began which left her poorer by Rs 11 lakh," said an officer from Kurar police station.

"Gradually the said person started gaining the woman's trust and told her that he is sending her a gift of 30,000 Euros. Then on various pretexts to get the said gift released from the airport, the fraudster and his associates induced Yadav to pay money in various bank accounts. When the accused kept demanding more money, the woman got suspicious and soon learnt that she had fallen prey to cyber-fraud," the officer said.

The woman lodged a complaint with Kurar police under section 419 (cheating by personation) and 420 (cheating) of IPC and section 66D (whoever by means of any communication device cheats by impersonation) of IT Act.

THE CON GAME
The woman was befriended by a cyber crook, who induced her to pay Rs 11.19 lakh in different bank accounts and in return promised to give her 30,000 Euros as a gift

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