Hackers are Everywhere, they are quietly lurking around trying to peep into your information. Their job has been facilitated by the flaws/ weakness in the Social platforms and low awareness of security safeguards by general public including you and me.
They can impersonate you, can know the intimate details of your friends and family and thus can take advantage by luring anyone in fraud financial dealings.
Other day some one rang me up from Canada / USA ( with ISD code +1) . Since I have my relatives in both the countries, I took the call. He claimed to be my nephew Ravi from Canada ( My nephew Ravi is indeed in Canada, It is another matter that he seldom rings me up). So I got suspicious as the voice on the call did not sound like Ravi. This caller told me that he was visiting India and wanted to send money in my account. He wanted to know details of my bank account. I asked him, why could not he send the money in his father’s ( my brother’s) account. He told me that he wanted to give surprise to his father. On further questioning regarding details of his parents he fumbled and cut the call. So please be aware of such persons claiming to be your relatives or friends. I am sure he was some hacker sitting in India trying to get my bank details.
Once someone impersonated my daughter on Facebook and started chatting with her FB friends on messenger. He/She then narrated a sob story requesting for transfer of amount. Thank God that person rang up my daughter to ascertain whether indeed this was true and my daughter confirmed that she is fine and the messenger call was not from her.
Two days back someone using my FB profile photo opened a new account using my name. He even managed to make 6 friends ( out of my actual FB friends ). He then gave a call on messenger to one of my FB friends asking for money, claiming that I was in problem and required amount urgently. My FB friend had the wisdom to cross check with me and I confirmed to him that it was an imposter/ hacker. I then took all the necessary security safeguards on my FB account. I also reported the matter to FB stating that someone was impersonating me.
The hackers are omnipresent and are continuously trying to lure, tempt, cheat and what not in order to draw out money from your account. You got to be extremely careful.
Latest cases have come to fore where hackers have been able to get hold of your mobile phones data/sim by giving blank calls and installing of spurious apps. Once your mobile is cloned they can draw out money from your bank accounts through net banking.
Some of the Safeguards that you can take to guard from hackers.
1. On Facebook, Lock your profile.
2. Let your friends list not be seen by anyone. In the settings, you can stop anyone including your friends to see the list of friends. Only you can see your friend list. You can do the same thing for your photos, which can be prohibited to be seen by public and friends. Only selected and trusted friends can see your photo. Make full use of FB security settings.
3. Accepting anyone’s FB friend request is most dangerous, accept a friend’s request after due verification. Similarly messenger chat should only be used sparingly.
4. Some of the safeguards for NetBanking using mobiles are.
a. Do not reply to phishing messages asking you to participate in lottery or indicating that your mobile has received some prize.
b. Do not reply to unidentified number calls. If this caller is genuine, He/She will send a SMS.
c. Do not give out your OTP or scan a bar code sent.
d. Have your Net Banking Accounts safe with double authentication. Use difficult passwords and keep changing them regularly.
Please remember Hackers are watching you all the times. It is a cat and mouse game and You got to be one step ahead of them to save your hard earned money and reputation.
Guchi.
Improve Your Life 