New Delhi: Days after Newsd reported of an ongoing digital fraud in which scamsters were duping people with the help of AnyDesk app and UPI platform, The Reserve Bank of India on Thursday (February 14) cautioned banks of the scam which has the potential of erasing bank balance via the same modus operandi.
In an alert issued by RBI’s cybersecurity and IT examination cell, it explained that first, the Fraudster lures “the victim on some pretext to download an app called ‘AnyDesk’ on their mobile phones”, and after a 9 digit number gets generated on the victim’s device, the fraudster would ask them to share. Following the share, the fraudster after inserting the 9 digit number, asks the victim to grant him permissions required while using other apps. The fraudster gains access to the victim’s device. Lastly, the mobile app credential is vished from the customer and the fraudster then can carry out transactions through the mobile app already installed on the customer’s device.
Newsd reported about a similar incident in which a hospital worker lost his Rs 20,000 to the exact same scam, last Sunday (February 10).
In the case that surfaced from New Ashok Nagar in Delhi, Mahendra Kushawaha, a resident of the area, lost his hard-earned money to similar fraud. Mahendra, a man of modest means, who is the sole worker supporting the family of seven, lost Rs. 20,000/- while trying to trace an earlier transaction he made through the Google Pay mobile app.
Kushawaha, after searching for a query “google pay customer care number”, had dialled numbers appeared in the form of Google Ads for a fraud looking Blogspot site. His call was cut, following which he received a phone call and was duped of Rs 20,000 after he was asked to download ‘AnyDesk Remote Access’ and follow the fraud caller’s instructions.
Following the incident a co-worker of Kushawaha tried to contact the scamster’s number, apparently, his call was also cancelled and a similar conversation the Kushawaha had with a scamster followed. We have asked Google to comment on the issue and are currently waiting for a response from their side.
AnyDesk Press Office on Tuesday (19 February) mailed Newsd, the following statement.
We deny that our application steals money from user accounts and we object to advice saying not to download our software. This accusation is completely false and harms our company’s great reputation.
We are deeply sorry for all the users who were victims of this fraud scheme, but in this case our remote access software was used by fraudsters to take advantage of people willing to provide access to their computer to unknown individuals. This same situation could be repeated with any other remote access software.
AnyDesk provides remote access from one device to another. However, this access needs to be authorized on the other side. There is no danger in using AnyDesk, which employs bank-level security protocols.
In light of these revelations, we have informed users of AnyDesk and other remote access applications to only provide access to their devices to those individuals they actually know.
We at AnyDesk always work in close cooperation with law enforcement authorities to counter abuse.
Cyber Crime: Trusting a Google Ad costs huge money to a hospital worker over Google Pay
