BHUBANESWAR: Elderly citizens are emerging as easy victims for cyber criminals, who are increasingly targeting their emotions to commit large-scale financial fraud, additional director general of police (ADG) Arun Bothra warned during a cyber-safety awareness event here on Saturday.
Speaking at the Cyber Safety for Elders Masterclass, organised by the Silver Age Foundation for Elders in association with CSM Tech, Bothra said such fraudsters typically prey on two powerful emotions of fear and greed. They often intimidate their victims or lure them with promises of unusually high financial returns, he said.
“Elderly people in the age group of 60-70 years are most vulnerable to cyber crimes as they are not very tech-savvy and also have money in their bank accounts, insurance policies and others. However, if senior citizens become aware that there is a persistent threat of cyber crime and the types and features of such crime, they will not fall prey to the scamsters,” he added.
Bothra, who had earlier served as ADG Crime Branch, said the modus operandi of online scams keep changing. “Earlier, the cyber criminals were sending emails with links to the victims to collect their information. Now, they are sending messages or calling over the phone to target them,” he said.
The senior officer cautioned the senior citizens of some of the most common cyber crimes like digital arrest, sending messages threatening to discontinue the electricity connection, update KYC of bank accounts and others. Scamsters are also hacking mobile phones of the individuals, impersonating them, and contacting their friends and family to demand money by either citing an emergency or other emotive issues. He advised the elderly people to not share OTPs, click suspicious links or visit unverified websites.
Master trainer of the session, cyber expert and senior journalist Yogesh Sapkale said cyber frauds like phishing/UPI scams, identity theft and fake customer care calls have witnessed a significant rise in the recent years. He sensitised the participants on ways scammers can be identified and the various techniques adopted by them to cheat the victims.
During the event, one of the members of Silver Age, Swarn Chandra (81), recalled her traumatic experience of digital arrest and shared valuable tips with the participants on how to remain safe.
Silver Age co-founder and chairperson Amar Jyoti Mahapatra said, “We planned to create cyber-safety awareness for senior citizens after some of our members were digitally scammed. Usually, awareness is being created these days, but our aim was to inform the senior citizens about various cyber crimes in detail and measures that need to be taken to protect themselves from such offences.”
Silver Age trustees Banita Mahapatra and Lucy Patnaik, and director of CSM Tech Lagna Panda also spoke.