During the Corona crisis, as society moved from the physical to the virtual environment, life became much less secure. During the year, the number of cybercrimes in the world has increased five times, and this trend is also reflected in Latvia. People are scammed, robbed, tricked at every turn. The speed of digitalisation is outpacing the skills of citizens and the implementation of security solutions.
"The pandemic has undeniably accelerated the pace of digitalisation around the world, raising the importance of cybersecurity and privacy protection to a whole new level. Compared to the previous year, the number of cybercrimes worldwide has increased fivefold in 2020." This was reported by Huawei after the Mobile World Congress Shanghai 2021 organized by GSMA. Of course, such a statement and their forum focusing on Collaboration and Trust in a Shared Cyberspace are part of Huawei's publicity strategy following the US espionage scandal, which almost deprived the company of the chance to work and trade in the European Union. However, this does not detract from the problem raised by Huawei:
“The year 2020 has significantly changed the way businesses operate and everyone's daily lives by moving jobs, training and various services, including medical services, online. In a time of social distancing, smart devices are used much more often than before to communicate with friends, relatives and colleagues. Similarly, the data and information we share on the Internet have become more sensitive. All of the above has not only increased the load on mobile networks, but also the activity of cybercriminals, creating new cybersecurity challenges.”
Latvian security authorities are also reporting more and more cases of scamming, and it is not just fake online stores that promise to deliver a refrigerator but just take your money instead. The financial pyramids of the 1990s are now in vogue. Only they are built on the Internet, where fraudsters can act even more brazenly than they once did in the physical world. Also because young people are being taught the absurd idea that virtual means of payment are the equivalent of money and they can get happy and rich by speculating on them. But that is not what happens in reality. If you are not a scammer, you will simply lose money. And they will no longer be some bitcoins with inflated value or non-existent corporate shares, but real euros.
The Cybercrime Unit of the State Police has issued a warning about the growing risks of scams. Currently, an international group of cyber scammers is active in Latvia and neighboring countries. They communicate in Russian. They offer their victims to invest money in questionable virtual internet platforms. The Latvian police, in co-operation with the European Police Office, has identified potential victims - at least 1,500 Internet users to whom fraudulent offers have been sent by e-mail. Many have responded and fallen for it. The police will soon instruct the victims on what to do next.
However, it is clear that it is almost impossible to recover money lost in the virtual environment to unknown people.
How does this fraud really happen and how can it be avoided? The first advice from the police is to be immediately cautious when receiving phone calls from strangers who pretend to be financial brokers or financial professionals. Fraudsters call not only from local but also from foreign numbers registered in Estonia, Portugal, Italy, Austria, France, Belgium, England, Germany, Romania, the Netherlands. They claim to be wise "financial professionals", offering assistance in the investment process. If the victim falls for it, they are convinced to start investing in various Internet platforms not registered in Latvia. Their names and technological solutions give the impression of real financial activities so that the potential victim has the illusion that their investment is profitable and everything is going exactly as promised by "financial professionals". But what is really happening is fiction.
And then the sucking out money from the victims begins - both through remotely installed programs and quite simply by using the naivety of the victims. They ask for more and more payments to the specified accounts for the purchase of such or such shares and virtual currencies, send reports on non-existent income and value fluctuations.
The worst thing is that victims are often persuaded to borrow the maximum amount possible from fast credit companies.
And that's real money with huge interest that puts people in debt for a long time. It can deprive them of property and families. This criminal scheme is by no means the only one that circulates in the cyber environment and threatens the population.
In February, the Internet security institution CERT reported that 10,000 Latvian Internet users' data has been leaked to the Internet. Data from users' computers have been stolen as a result of an Emotet virus. The stolen data contains usernames and passwords used to access various services and websites. It is also known that some correspondence was stolen from users who had Outlook Mail installed on their computer. Stolen correspondence, especially if it contains private or confidential business information, can serve as an object of extortion.
Fraudsters also steal payment card data. At the end of January, fraudsters approached traders who had placed their goods for sale on various internet sales platforms impersonating several well-known suppliers in Latvia. They pretended to be buyers and sent links to fake websites that visually resemble the websites of the real courier services, asking them to enter payment card details to receive payment for the product remotely. Less experienced merchants fell for it and fraudsters got access to personal payment card data and money in their account.
Cyber weather reports also mention infected e-mails impersonating banks, intrusions into servers and encrypted data - probably for extortion purposes and threats to the Internet of Things, such as possible remote attacks by malicious people on smart heating equipment. These are all side effects of the digitalisation of society.
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