ED Cracks The Whip Against Fake Website Scam

The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) conducted search and seizure operations at multiple sites in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra in connection with the ongoing fake website scam on July 8, the financial law enforcement agency said in a tweet.

The agency seized cash worth INR 1.3 Cr, bank balances worth INR 15.8 Lakhs and various incriminating documents during the operations.

“ED has conducted searches at various places in Delhi, MP & Maharashtra on 8.7.2023 in connection with Fake Website Scam. During the searches, cash amounting to ₹1.3 Crore, bank balances amounting to ₹15.8 Lakh & various incriminating documents have been seized/freezed,” tweeted ED.

While the ED did not specify which particular websites were being targeted, fake website scams are varied and elaborate, making it difficult for people to differentiate between real and legitimate websites.

What Are Fake Websites?

There are multiple types of fake websites, including phishing websites, where cybercriminals usually attack via links sent in emails and fake online stores, which look like legitimate websites but there is no delivery of products or services availed by a user via such websites.

Further, there are clone websites, which look like popular services such as government, insurance, banks or other public institutions. Except, these websites are made to trick people into entering their banking information to be misused later.

Scareware sites are the most distinct fake website types. They use fake virus alerts and misleading buttons to trick a user into downloading malware rather than submitting sensitive information. These pages are easily recognisable via their clickbaity pop-ups and messages claiming that there are viruses on a person’s device.

Once a user clicks on the download button, instead of an antivirus, malware is downloaded. The malware can do as much damage as multiple fraud websites combined.

Such scams have become far more common in India, as the rising online population means there is not enough digital literacy to identify and avoid such scams. Further, with the help of AI tools, fake websites are becoming nearly impossible to tell apart from real ones.

India remains one of the worst-impacted countries in terms of cybercriminal activity. While the government said that CERT-In tracked just 13.91 Lakh cybersecurity incidents in 2022, a senior Google executive last August pegged the number at 18 Mn cyberattacks a day, which translates to 6.57 Bn cyberattacks per year.

The government has been working on addressing the rising incidence of cybercrimes in the country. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance summoned banks and tech giants like Apple and Google over cybersecurity and the rising incident of cybercrimes and white-collar crimes on July 4.