What are 'platform' frauds and how can you be safe

A recent report reveals that a whopping 57% of fraud incidents in India are happening on social media, e-commerce, enterprise, and fintech platforms. This means that scammers are using these digital platforms to carry out their sneaky tricks and deceive people. It is like a new type of crime that takes advantage of the online world we live in. Read on to know more.

More than 26% of Indian organizations suffered losses exceeding $1 million due to platform fraud, revealed PwC's second edition of 'Global Economic Crime and Fraud Survey 2022: India Insights. Additionally, the survey discovered that 44% of the fraudsters committed these crimes with the sole intention of making money. This highlights the need for heightened caution and preventive measures to safeguard against such financial scams.

The findings showed that nearly all (99%) of the fraud incidents in the past two years took place on various platforms. These platforms include financial, social media, goods, enterprises, media sharing, knowledge sharing, and services. Economic crime and fraud pose significant challenges for Indian companies, as around 66% of organizations encountered at least one form of economic crime in the last two years.

According to Puneet Garkhel, Partner and Leader of Forensics Services at PwC India, the rise of e-commerce, contactless payments, home delivery models, and remote working has not only brought innovative platforms but also created opportunities for fraudsters. Garkhel emphasized the importance for organizations to recognize these evolving threats and make sufficient investments in strategies for preventing and detecting fraud.

32% of the organizations cited brand damage as a common motive for fraud, while 21% mentioned seeking a competitive advantage. Enterprise platforms, on the other hand, are highly targeted by cybercriminals for activities such as malware attacks, phishing scams, money laundering, and ransomware.

"The threat of ransomware, in particular, has grown to an alarming level. Financial frauds on transactions made to or from platforms accounted for 89% of all platform frauds," said the PwC report.

The report revealed that 40% of platform frauds in India were carried out by people within the organization. 26% of these frauds involved a collaboration between internal employees and external individuals. The report emphasized that fighting fraudulent activities on platforms requires the participation of company executives and a coordinated effort that covers the entire organization.

In one of the latest scams, WhatsApp users are receiving random calls from far-off countries like Malaysia, Kenya, Vietnam, and Ethiopia. The mystery behind these calls is still unsolved, which has left people confused. Primarily, you should not answer unknown audio or video calls. The same goes for texts too. Additionally, the Meta-owned company suggests users report and block these calls.

While purchasing six towels online, Rs. 19,005 was wrongfully deducted from a woman's account instead of Rs. 1,169. Subsequently, a person claiming to be from the bank contacted her and instructed her to download an app for a refund. She lost an additional Rs. 1,00,000. By the time she reached the police station, she lost a total of Rs. 8.30 lakh in additional withdrawals.

A Mumbai man suffered a loss of Rs. 1,00,000 when he clicked on a link to book a doctor's appointment for his mother's check-up. Unfortunately, he fell victim to a scam and lost the money that he had saved for his mother's treatment. He realized he had been deceived upon visiting the hospital and learning that they never take appointments online.

Strengthen your security by creating strong passwords using a combination of special characters, letters, numbers, and both upper and lower case. Keep changing your passwords from time to time for added security. Be cautious about sharing personal information unless you are confident in the representative's authenticity. Avoid clicking on suspicious links received through SMS or email to prevent falling victim to scams.