New Delhi [India], May 17: We are living in the era of Covid-19 where “Work From Home” culture is the new normal. Today most IT companies are offering work from home for their employees to keep them safe from this virus. Many have lost their jobs in this pandemic and are struggling to find work offline or online to feed their families. This situation of unemployment has activated scamsters who target innocent people on social media by offering them high payout jobs while working part-time from home.
Sandeep Vashist, a leading digital marketing expert and political consultant from Delhi, who is working with politicians, entrepreneurs and corporate clients is on our panel and shared with us valuable information on how to save ourselves from online Scams and frauds.
On asking how online scammers target innocent people, Sandeep said “It is easy to find a person who has recently lost his job in this pandemic, usually scamsters create a fake account on social media and offer easy money while working from home. If a person is not so attentive, he or she easily falls into the trap and shares their personal details, bank ID, passwords and even OTP to get easy money. “
Police data shows that the most common cybercrime was credit/debit card fraud, Facebook-related cases of cheating are third on the list and around 84,545 fraud cases – involving about Rs 1.85 lakh crore were reported by scheduled commercial banks and select FIs during 2019-20, an RTI activist said, citing information received from the Reserve Bank of India.
On asking how to remain safe from these fraudsters, Sandeep Vashist suggested using common sense. He said, “Nothing comes free in this world. If someone calls you and says you have won any lottery or amount, ask them to give the complete amount to charity.” He added, “Another way of fraud is creating a fake profile on social media of your friends and relative and then they message you and seek financial help. Scammers have been known to use emotion and urgency to convince people with a loved one is in financial trouble and needs funds quickly.”
Few suggestions are shared by Sandeep Vashist which will help you keep your information safe and to identify online frauds:
- Change passwords regularly of your accounts.
- Do not entertain freebies and lottery calls & messages.
- While shopping online trust only reputed and encrypted websites.
- Check your social media privacy settings.
- Be careful when using public Wi-Fi.
- Do not buy products on Marketplace without reviews and full payment in advance.
- If your friend needs financial help, call him personally instead of chatting online.
Sandeep has been involved in Seminars for social media security, digital marketing & political strategies. He manages the social media accounts of many politicians and corporate brands.
We thank Sandeep that he joined this panel and shared important and useful information for our users. Our readers can connect with him at