Lost money to cyber criminals? Know from experts how to protect your hard-earned money, credit cards, data from scammers

Financial cybercrime has been on a rise. People have lost their hard-earned money to scammers through various means after they fell into the trap laid by the scammers. The scammers have now moved over the Phishing, Smishing and Vishing. They are adopting new tricks to fool people. You may receive a nude video call from unknown numbers or they may pose as your distant relative in financial need. You may get a call from them posing as a bank executive who would claim that your debit or credit card needs to be upgraded.

However, as experts say, you should never disclose your confidential information like OTP, credit/debit card number, CVV number, Aadhaar number etc to anyone. Also, you should not transfer money to unknown numbers without verifying.

You may rest assured that your assets and money will be protected as long as you remain vigilant and aware of threats. While bringing your finances online provides convenience and accessibility, it comes with a risk as well that includes Malware/Ransomware, Malicious Bots, and Phishing.

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"To protect finances digitally, one must use only verified apps and should enable Multi-Factor Authentication to keep password clues private. If you are a businessman, then a Security Assessment is especially important so you can establish a baseline and close existing vulnerabilities. Advanced endpoint security tools protect your computer data from malware, viruses, and cyber-attacks. Try to keep an offline backup for your data every month," advised Linson C Paul, CTO, Muthoot Microfin Ltd.

Karunya Sampath, Co-founder & CEO, Payoda Technologies, cautioned users against Phishing emails. "Stay away from Phishing emails and think before you click. More than 90% of successful cyber-attacks start with a phishing email. Use strong passwords. One can use a password manager to generate strong unique passwords. One should also keep updating software regularly. Whether it's a phone or your personal computer, updating the software is quite essential and important to keep the threat actors at bay," said Sampath.

Experts also advised that precaution is better than cure as there is no better way than awareness to safeguard one's self from cyber threats.

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"If a user is not aware of the threats and means scamsters use to dupe unsuspecting consumers, then it most certainly affects the unsuspecting user. Hence, keeping oneself updated and vigilant is half the battle won," said Balaji Jagannathan, Cofounder & Director, Paycorp.io.

Experts also advised that one should have a genuine antivirus installed in their phones or computers to protect from any vulnerabilities.