As usual, year 2010   also has seen Nigerian fraudsters in full flow. Encouraged by their stupendous success in cheating mobile and internet users, Indians have also successfully indigenized their technology.

Apart from deviant MBA students, Engineers and MCA graduates, even small time crooks are copying the “patented” Nigerian techniques with alarming ease, causing havoc among   newbies to email and SMS scams.

In several instances, the Nigerian mails are copied, edited and circulated, offering fraud jobs, lottery prize  etc. Other than  the underlying theme, the other noticeable commonality is bad grammar!

For example mail announcing “You have been short listed for job in Maruti Suzuki” is signed off wishing “Best of lucks!”

Complaints-India.com  Report is based on the frequency of Fraud Emails and SMS received by the website users

 Number1. International Lottery Sweepstakes. “You Have Won Lottery”

 The lottery fraud comes in several  hues and shades. It would say “Your mail Id or mobile number has  won  British Pounds ------------”  The names of well known companies are used and for better effect, names are combined!

Coca Cola , Hewlett Packard (HP), Nokia Mobile, Yahoo MSN Lottery (!), Yahoo Microsoft Windows Live, BMW Company, Texaco Petroleum, Gmail / Rediffmail Lottery(!), Google Incorporation(!), Microsoft Mobile Draw, British Telecommunications,  BBC Online Lotto, Irish Lottery, Common Wealth Games Lottery, World Cup Football Lottery, 2011 Cricket World Cup Lottery…..its along list indeed!

The mail ask for personal details. Once someone replies, the fraudsters trap him by informing that Cheque has been sent and  RBI, Diplomat etc will contact! The trapped fellow is forced to shell out lakhs as one fee or the other,  till he gets wind of the fraud.  In the process he will be called by “RBI Officers” and “Diplomat” who has come to India with the cheque!!!

 Number 2. Getting that Dream Job  now is so easy!.  “Videocon Direct Recruitment Offer”

 This is   a clean copy of Nigerian Fraud mails which offer jobs abroad. Local Cyber Crime Syndicates have opened thousands of fraud accounts in ICICI, SBI , Axis and other banks to receive money transferred by victims of fake job offere emails /SMS

The Crooks keep sending mass mails or SMS in waves,  changing Company Names, Address and Account detail, often.  Names of Videocon, Wipro, HCL, Maruti Suzuki, Skoda India, Toyota India, L&T, Bajaj, Tata Group, Volkswagen etc have all been used to promote the Fraud Job offer business of the criminal syndicates

The mail declares that the company has seen the user’s resume in job portals and the candidate has been short listed for interview. The Salary offered is absolutely mouth watering. The company offers full refund of travel expenses. To show commitment to attend interview, candidate has to pay Rs.10,500  or whatever, to the  account  of designated company HR department officer!  OOPS!

 So the trapped job seeker who has been waiting for a good job offer, rushes to bank and sends money to the crook’s account.  

 Number 3. Fake Marketing Campaigns offering Free Items

 The criminals use SMS for this fraud, extensively. SMS received states that the user has won some item as part of company marketing exercise during launch of new product. For example, Airtel Set Top Box free or a Philips DVD Player Free!. Need to pay only service tax! Victims who respond are given bank account number to transfer money. Off course after transfer, there will be no further contact. Thousands of people fall prey to these frauds which again comes in waves.  At a time, the criminals are able to collect large funds, though the individual amount paid  is small.

 Number 4. Mobile Tower Installation Fraud

Instead of mass mail,  the criminals use classified ads in local news papers to trap victims. They know the targets are small time land / building  owners  in small towns and they can not be targeted using email.  The innocuous looking ads declare that certain company is looking for sites to install Mobile Towers on behalf of telecom Companies and invites land /building owners to reply. To convince people,  a website address is given to make the business look genuine. (Company names used are Khan Gold Care, Sky Network, MSN Tower Company, GR Communication, Nextgen Towers etc)

Once contact is established, the crooks ask for DD  for certain amount to send Site Survey Team which never arrives, after payment. 

Number 5. Work From Home Scams. Paid Survey, Form Filling, Mail Reading, Typing, Clicking etc

People get easily attracted to easy money making offers by working part time at home. The scamsters advertise in   classified portals and news papers. The fact that people who respond forgets is that there is actually NO WORK. The intention is just to grab registration fees from victims.   If someone pesters after paying Registration fees, some carp job is given which will not be accepted and paid for. Once trapped, the registration fees is gone for ever. The scam is operated by criminals generally without any fixed office so that they can not be traced. They run elaborate websites to fool people. Incidentally many people who area trapped are turned into agents to trap more people and the agents are given a cut. So it also operates like an illegal MLM scheme.

Number 6. Bank Security Upgrade Notice. Phone / SMS Phishing for Password

 The user gets call /SMS  purportedly from   Security Department of the Bank or Customer Care stating that the Security system is being upgraded to ensure that third party transfer is secure. Then  SMS will be sent asking to reconfirm passwords.  Bank customer feels happy that his bank is doing good things. After sometime he gets SMS of money withdrawn. Then panic starts.

 Number 7. Foreign Job Offers. Foreign Fund Transfer.  Nigerian Attack

 Job offers from reputed Hotels in UK, Canada etc lands up in mail asking for personal details, pass port copy etc. The Hotel name and website address given could be correct. But the mail ID to which reply goes will be that of the Nigerian gangster behind the scam.  Victims are asked to send Visa Fees, legal fees etc to account in India. The accounts are leased by Indian crooks to  Nigerains for a fee. (Oftem10% of money collected).   The personal details collected is misused by the criminals to open new bank accounts take SIM cards etc

 The classic Inheritance Fraud mail, asking for victims account to park huge inherited money is still in circulation, though it has lost novelty value!

Number 8. Indian Crooks Using Nigerian Trick. “You have been selected for grant of Rs.85 Lakhs by Govt of India”

This is an indigenized fraud. The receiver is pleasantly surprised to note that he has been selected by Govt of India as one of the grantees of Rs.85Lakhs!

The message which comes purportedly from RBI, goes like this. “To help Indian job seekers to setup their own business   of their choice, Govt of India is granting sum of Eighty Five Lakhs (85lahks). Be informed that your email was chosen as one of the great beneficiaries. Your email was selected among the job offers resume that you have posted”.  The victim is asked to sent personal details.  

The excited receiver of the email sends in personal data and then rushes to bank to transfer fees to “RBI” officer’s personal account!

 Number 9. Fake Online Shopping Sites / Online Classified Ads

 While there are good number of  genuine online shopping  websites, there are numerous fake sites too. These fakes display a number of items. Visitors unknowingly place orders and pay by credit card. There will be no response to any mails or calls after payment. The contact numbers, mail Ids etc will all be fake.  Such online fraud sales are also done through classified ads. The offer will be irresistible like the victims of recent Apple IPhone Ads found.

 Number 10. Fraud Loan Offers  by Classified Ads 

The offer for extending lakhs at cheap interest rates traps many people. The criminals sets up temporary office in a town, publish  loan scheme. The crooks operate for couple of months. Collects processing fee from many people and then will shut office and vanish. Simple strategy. But  rakes in lakhs, in couple of months.

  Other popular fraud offers:

  - Walk-in Job Offer (Invites candidates by Local Ad / SMS as IT Company. Collect Registration fees and Vanish from one town to reappear in another)

 -         Holiday Home/ Time Share offer (Makes phone calls asking to attend meeting with company staff and get surprise gift. The weak ones are offered fancy schemes and membership is charged to credit card. That would be the last the victim hears of the company)

-         Fake Share Trading Companies  (Lures people by Mails/SMS and classified ads to fraud website to become members. After taking registration fees operates for few months, shuts down and disappears)

 -         MLM Schemes (Most people know for sure that MLM schemes are illegal and will fold up any moment. Still they seem to have thrill in signing up and losing money! For example Visarev scheme)

 -         Offer to Sell Machinery to make different Items like Paper Cups  (The buyer tries to contact the seller who vanishes in quick time after the buyer finds out that he has bought junk)

 -         Offer to  source chemicals and other materials from India  (The victims would have paid legal fees and other charges before realizing that they are being led up the garden path!)

Complete report with Links

I'm sure you must have come across the BlackBerry encryption/Indian government issue in the past. As of now, BlackBerry maker RIM has till January 31, 2011 to hand over the encryption keys to intelligence agencies - keys that protect the content (like e-mail or chat) of millions of BlackBerry users in the country.

It seems that the Indian Government is training its eyes on all other forms of electronic communication that cannot pass through their radar. Google's popular e-mail service - Gmail - happens to be one of these. But as The Economic Times reports, Google's already given its verdict on the matter even before the government asking them anything. Google Inc. will not share the encryption keys of its email service with the Indian security agency, for reasons of compromising the privacy of millions of Gmail users worldwide. Google India chief Vinay Goel was speaking on the matter, "If requested, it would be impossible to offer real-time access since the Gmail service is governed by US laws. When users entrust their data with us, we are expected to protect it, which is why, user privacy is very important for Google".

But it isn't like Google is going to be completely turning a deaf ear for the call of the nation's security. Vinay said that they're open to offering the Indian government access if there's a large-scale risk to human life and property. But it makes me wonder whether the government would find this arrangement acceptable, since such a situation is not going to invite itself before coming, thus needing the government to monitor it all the time.

So, why is the government having such a hard time with security? As the ET write-up suggests, they don't have the technical resources to intercept communication on the internet that is protected by high levels of encryption. It also sounds pretty strange that the government actually asked Indian ISPs to tone down their encryption levels for them to monitor systems in the country. 
This seems like a rather complex problem where you have companies that aren't willing to compromise on the privacy of their users that they swear to protect, versus the need for monitoring all possible forms of communication that some might use against the safety of the nation. What if the government does ask Google for access to their encryption keys for Gmail? Will they ban the popular mail service if they don't comply?

Himanshu Meena has his priorities sorted. The IIM-B student wants to change India's politics and will intern with the Congress party next summer.

Off the beaten path', 'breaking new ground' - the cliches are endless, but what happens when an IIM student shuns the lure of investment banking firms and FMCG companies and decides to work with a political party? 'Killing a career before it started', 'professional suicide' most would exclaim. Himanshu Meena takes the brickbats in his stride.

The IIM Bangalore student will spend the summer of 2011 with India's oldest political party - the Congress.

For all post-graduate programmes in all the IIMs an internship is compulsory. Corporate giants line up at campuses in November for 'summer placements', which take place in April-May. Himanshu decided he would skip the placements. Because he plans to set up a consultancy firm which will devise campaign strategies for political parties in the run up to elections.

"I followed the last US Presidential elections and noticed how immensely organised the whole process was," says Himanshu. "In India, there is no organisation, no record of what funds go where, whether they are actually used at all. So I want to bring in a process that makes everything clear."

 Scamsters   always look for weak targets to trap and defraud them.  Job seekers as a community, suffers   from eagerness to land a better job with better pay. 

It’s a very large community to boot  with lakhs of people on the look out, every day, to  switch  jobs. 

Fake recruiters are having a ball right now, dangling plump offers and hooking hundreds!Its most unfortunate that  people 

who apply for jobs expecting a larger bank balance, find their hard earned savings diminished, instead. 

Last 3 months have seen hectic activity  in the cyberspace by   so called companies “GCI Enterprises”   and “Sansui Technologies”.

While “GCI Enterprises” is most likely a newly coined name, fraudsters behind “Sansui Technologies” are  impersonating  the electronics company Sansui. 

The Modus Operandi is similar. Send out mass mails asking recipient to apply for job with fancy salaries. 

Once you reply, you will get response that you have bean  selected and need to attend for interview and 

a  certain fee is to be transferred to designated company account.  

                        

There are phone numbers to call and people to answer. But if smart guys ask probing questions,  

like where the office address is and whether a relative can come and handover cheque, the call will be disconnected.  

 There are no jobs for troublesome guys here!  You may wonder whether there could be people in reality, to fall for this type of scams.

 How could any one get job offer without applying? And why should anyone pay charges to attend interview? Well..

these are valid, legitimate questions but raised with the knowledge of the background….that of fraud.  

 However, a small percentage of people who are unaware of the fraud, could consider the offers as genuine. 

The concept behind the scam is that people whose profile do not match the job offered will consider the mail as a matter of mistaken identity and ignore.   Those who match the profile would ALSO  consider the mail as a matter of mistaken identity but could proceed, internally happy, that the offers  have landed in their lap,  instead of the persons  to whom  they were  actually intended!   Damn lucky! Its very easy in India to cheat. Open a bank account in some  company name with forged papers. Receive payments for 2 or 3 months and then vanish. Considering the mass-market reach, “Sansui Technologies”  must be easily getting at least 10 transfers per day. That is a cool Rs.18 Lakhs revenue per month, for the crooks, while cyber cell and other policing departments turn a blind eye to complaints. These “companies” also  brazenly publish news paper ads, which shows how easy its to get away with crime, in India.  Incidentally, we may also feel that the Lottery Jackpot mails rarely find victims. Read the story of Ms. Preeti Bala who transferred Rs.18500 and was on the verge of transferring Rs.48,350 more….  Read More at:  http://www.complaints-india.com/article-gci-enterprises-sansui-technologies-10010.php 

 

Gawker Media said on Monday that computers belonging to one of its editors, Jason Chen, were seized from his home on Friday in an apparent
investigation into the sale of a next-generation Apple iPhone. Gawker suggested the action violated California’s shield law for journalists.

The technology blog Gizmodo, which Gawker owns, published articles last week about the phone after buying the device for $5,000 from a person who, according to the site, found it at a bar in California last month. More...

Indian Railways in collaboration with Google is now providing a 10 digit mobile number. Just SMS your PNR number on this mobile number and instantaneously you will get your ticket's current status along with all other journey related details.
The number is 97733-00000. (Format: PNR xxxxx) NO need to prefix 0 or +91.
Best of all, you don't pay a premium charge for any of this, just the
price of a standard SMS.
PLEASE DON'T FORGET TO STORE THE NUMBER IN YOUR MOBILE PHONE.

Other Toll Free Numbers in India ,
Airlines
Indian Airlines - (1800 180 1407)
Jet Airways - (1800 22 5522)
Spice Jet - (1800 180 3333)
Air India -- (1800 22 7722)
Kingfisher - (1800 180 0101)
Banks
ABN AMRO - (1800 11 2224)
Canara Bank - (1800 44 6000)
Citibank - (1800 44 2265)
Corporation Bank - (1800 443 555)
Development Credit Bank - (1800 22 5769)
HDFC Bank - (1800 227 227)
ICICI Bank - (1800 333 499)
ICICI Bank NRI - (1800 22 4848)
IDBI Bank - (1800 11 6999)
Indian Bank - (1800 425 1400)
ING Vysya - (1800 44 9900)
Kotak Mahindra Bank - (1800 22 6022)
Lord Krishna Bank - (1800 11 2300)
Punjab National Bank - (1800 122 222)
State Bank of India - (1800 44 1955)
Syndicate Bank - (1800 44 6655)
Automobiles
Mahindra Scorpio - (1800 22 6006)
Maruti - (1800 111 515)
Tata Motors - (1800 22 5552)
Windshield Experts - (1800 11 3636)
Computers/IT
Adrenalin - (1800 444 445)
AMD - (1800 425 6664)
Apple Computers - (1800 444 683)
Canon - (1800 333 366)
Cisco Systems - (1800 221 777)
Compaq - HP - (1800 444 999)
Data One Broadband - (1800 424 1800)
Dell - (1800 444 026)
Epson - (1800 44 0011)
eSys - (3970 0011)
Genesis Tally Academy - (1800 444 888)
HCL - (1800 180 8080)
IBM - (1800 443 333)
Lexmark - (1800 22 4477)
Marshal's Point - (1800 33 4488)
Microsoft - (1800 111 100)
Microsoft Virus Update - (1901 333 334)
Seagate - (1800 180 1104)
Symantec - (1800 44 5533)
TVS Electronics - (1800 444 566)
WeP Peripherals - (1800 44 6446)
Wipro - (1800 333 312)
Xerox - (1800 180 1225)
Zenith - (1800 222 004)
Indian Railway General Enquiry 131
Indian Railway Central Enquiry 131
Indian Railway Reservation 131
Indian Railway Railway Reservation Enquiry 1345,1335,1330
Indian Railway Centralised Railway Enquiry 1330/1/2/3/4/ 5/6/7/8/9
Couriers/Packers & Movers
ABT Courier - (1800 44 8585)
AFL Wizz - (1800 22 9696)
Agarwal Packers & Movers - (1800 11 4321)
Associated Packers P Ltd - (1800 21 4560)
DHL - (1800 111 345)
FedEx - (1800 22 6161)
Goel Packers & Movers - (1800 11 3456)
UPS - (1800 22 7171)
Home Appliances
Aiwa/Sony - (1800 11 1188)
Anchor Switches - (1800 22 7979)
Blue Star - (1800 22 2200)
Bose Audio - (1800 11 2673)
Bru Coffee Vending Machines - (1800 44 7171)
Daikin Air Conditioners - (1800 444 222)
DishTV - (1800 12 3474)
Faber Chimneys - (1800 21 4595)
Godrej - (1800 22 5511)
Grundfos Pumps - (1800 33 4555)
LG - (1901 180 9999)
Philips - (1800 22 4422)
Samsung - (1800 113 444)
Sanyo - (1800 11 0101)
Voltas - (1800 33 4546)

Investments/ Finance
CAMS - (1800 44 2267)
Chola Mutual Fund - (1800 22 2300)
Easy IPO's - (3030 5757)
Fidelity Investments - (1800 180 8000)
Franklin Templeton Fund - (1800 425 4255)
J M Morgan Stanley - (1800 22 0004)
Kotak Mutual Fund - (1800 222 626)
LIC Housing Finance - (1800 44 0005)
SBI Mutual Fund - (1800 22 3040)
Sharekhan - (1800 22 7500)
Tata Mutual Fund - (1800 22 0101)
Travel
Club Mahindra Holidays - (1800 33 4539)
Cox & Kings - (1800 22 1235)
God TV Tours - (1800 442 777)
Kerala Tourism - (1800 444 747)
Kumarakom Lake Resort - (1800 44 5030
Raj Travels & Tours - (1800 22 9900)
Sita Tours - (1800 111 911)
SOTC Tours - (1800 22 3344)
Healthcare
Best on Health - (1800 11 8899)
Dr Batras - (1800 11 6767)
GlaxoSmithKline - (1800 22 8797)
Johnson & Johnson - (1800 22 8111)
Kaya Skin Clinic - (1800 22 5292)
LifeCell - (1800 44 5323)
Manmar Technologies - (1800 33 4420)
Pfizer - (1800 442 442)
Roche Accu-Chek - (1800 11 4546)
Rudraksha - (1800 21 4708)
Varilux Lenses - (1800 44 8383)
VLCC - (1800 33 1262)
Insurance
AMP Sanmar - (1800 44 2200)
Aviva - (1800 33 2244)
Bajaj Allianz - (1800 22 5858)
Chola MS General Insurance - (1800 44 5544)
HDFC Standard Life - (1800 227 227)
LIC - (1800 33 4433)
Max New York Life - (1800 33 5577)
Royal Sundaram - (1800 33 8899)
SBI Life Insurance - (1800 22 9090)
Hotel Reservations
GRT Grand - (1800 44 5500)
InterContinental Hotels Group - (1800 111 000
Marriott - (1800 22 0044)
Sarovar Park Plaza - (1800 111 222)
Taj Holidays - (1800 111 825)
Teleshopping
Asian Sky Shop - (1800 22 1800)
Jaipan Teleshoppe - (1800 11 5225)
Tele Brands - (1800 11 8000)
VMI Teleshopping - (1800 447 777)
WWS Teleshopping - (1800 220 777)
Others
Domino's Pizza - (1800 111 123)
Cell Phones
BenQ - (1800 22 08 08)
Bird CellPhones - (1800 11 7700)
Motorola MotoAssist - (1800 11 1211)
Nokia - (3030 3838)
Sony Ericsson - (3901 1111)

This Saturday (27-March), the symbols of our civilization, sky raising buildings, iconic monuments and landmarks from India to Australia to USA to Europe, will stand in darkness, to help bring to light one of the biggest challenges of our generation-- Climate Change.

The 'Earth Hour' that began as a show of solidarity against climate change has today become a global movement. It brings together a whole generation of humankind, from across the world and across all walks of life, in celebration and contemplation of the one thing we all have in common - our planet. It is a call to stand up, to take responsibility, to get involved and lead the way towards a sustainable future.

Click here to continueMore...

3.00 pm: Satish Sawant, an insurance agent, collected his brand new Nano from a showroom in Prabhadevi, and headed home, dreaming of showing off his first car to his family at LIC Colony, Mulund (W).