The CBI has alerted the police in all States and Union Territories on online advance payment scams and use of methanol for making spurious sanitisers. The alert follows inputs from the Interpol.
“Such scams involve instances of criminals approaching as vendors of PPE and other protective equipment related to the COVID-19 pandemic and entering into business transactions with clients online”, the CBI said.
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After receipt of payment via bank transfers, the fraudulent vendors do not make any delivery of items. Besides, there have been instances in other countries wherein methanol has been used for preparing spurious hand sanitisers. The modus operandi has been devised to exploit the huge demand for sanitisers.
“Methanol can be highly toxic and dangerous for the human body,” said the CBI in a statement.
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Based on information received from the Interpol, the CBI last month sent alerts to all the States, Union Territories and the Central agencies, cautioning them against a malicious software threat that used messages purportedly related to the pandemic.
The banking Trojan, Cerberus, sent SMS using the lure of coronavirus (COVID-19) related content to download the embedded malicious link. It deployed its application usually spread via phishing campaigns to trick users into installing it on their smartphones.
The Trojan also tricked the victims into providing personal information and could capture two-factor authentication details of online accounts.
