Audience hub

Protect work accounts and payment decisions

Most workplace incidents begin with a believable request. Verify payment and access changes out of band, and report early.

Owner Cyber Safe India Editorial TeamPublished and reviewed 16 Sep 2026Evidence grade B · sourced guidanceEditorial policyCorrections
criticalIndia focus

Digital Arrest Scam

Criminals posing as police, CBI, ED, Customs, TRAI or narcotics officers place the victim under a fake "digital arrest" on a video call and extort money for hours or days until the victim transfers their savings.

Impersonation & Authority Scams · Recognise, prevent, report and recover →

criticalIndia focus

Investment & Trading Scam

Fraudsters run fake advisory groups, cloned brokerage apps and Ponzi schemes that show fabricated profits, then block withdrawals once the victim has deposited enough — often after months of grooming.

Financial & Banking Fraud · Recognise, prevent, report and recover →

criticalIndia focus

Phishing

Fraudulent messages that impersonate a trusted brand or person to steal credentials, OTPs, card data or to deliver malware — still the single most common entry point for both consumer fraud and enterprise breaches.

Social Engineering & Phishing · Recognise, prevent, report and recover →

criticalIndia focus

Business E-mail Compromise (BEC)

Attackers impersonate or hijack an executive, vendor or lawyer’s e-mail to redirect a legitimate payment into an account they control — usually with no malware involved at all.

Financial & Banking Fraud · Recognise, prevent, report and recover →

criticalIndia focus

Fake Loan App & Digital Lending Fraud

Unregulated "instant loan" apps disburse tiny amounts, harvest the borrower’s contacts and photos, then extort repayment through blackmail, morphed images and mass shaming of family and colleagues.

Financial & Banking Fraud · Recognise, prevent, report and recover →

criticalIndia focus

Deepfake & AI Voice/Video Fraud

Synthetic audio and video used to impersonate a relative in distress, an executive authorising a transfer, a celebrity endorsing an investment, or to create non-consensual explicit imagery for extortion.

AI-Enabled Threats · Recognise, prevent, report and recover →

criticalIndia focus

Sextortion & Online Blackmail

A stranger initiates a sexual video call or intimate chat, records it (or fabricates it with AI), then demands money under threat of sending it to the victim’s family, employer and social contacts.

Romance, Sextortion & Harassment · Recognise, prevent, report and recover →

criticalIndia focus

Romance & Dating Scam

A relationship built patiently over weeks or months online, then converted into money — through emergencies, customs fees on gifts, or a "shared investment" that turns out to be a fabricated trading platform.

Romance, Sextortion & Harassment · Recognise, prevent, report and recover →

criticalIndia focus

Cryptocurrency Fraud

Fake exchanges, rug-pull tokens, cloud-mining schemes, celebrity giveaway scams and wallet-drainer approvals — all exploiting the fact that a blockchain transaction, once signed, cannot be reversed.

Financial & Banking Fraud · Recognise, prevent, report and recover →

criticalIndia focus

Spear Phishing

Phishing built on research into one specific person — referencing their real projects, colleagues and deadlines — so the message survives the scepticism that stops bulk phishing.

Social Engineering & Phishing · Recognise, prevent, report and recover →

criticalIndia focus

Vishing (Voice Phishing)

Fraud conducted by phone — spoofed caller ID, fake IVR menus and scripted "support agents" — now extended to corporate helpdesks and increasingly powered by AI voice agents.

Social Engineering & Phishing · Recognise, prevent, report and recover →

criticalIndia focus

AI-Generated Phishing & Scam Content

Generative models producing fluent, personalised phishing, scam scripts and fake websites in any language at unlimited scale — removing every language and quality signal awareness training used to rely on.

AI-Enabled Threats · Recognise, prevent, report and recover →

highIndia focus

SIM Swap & Mobile Number Takeover

An attacker takes control of your mobile number — through a fraudulent replacement SIM, port-out or eSIM transfer — and uses it to receive your OTPs, resetting banking, e-mail and crypto accounts.

Financial & Banking Fraud · Recognise, prevent, report and recover →

highIndia focus

Invoice & Vendor Payment Fraud

An altered or fabricated invoice with changed bank details, sent from a compromised or lookalike vendor address — so a genuine payment for genuine goods lands in the fraudster's account.

Financial & Banking Fraud · Recognise, prevent, report and recover →

highIndia focus

Fake Income Tax & Refund Scam

Impersonation of the Income Tax Department claiming a pending refund or an outstanding demand, driving victims to a cloned e-filing page or a payment to "settle" a fabricated notice.

Impersonation & Authority Scams · Recognise, prevent, report and recover →

highIndia focus

Spyware & Stalkerware

Software that covertly monitors a device — messages, location, camera and microphone — including commercial "family safety" apps repurposed by abusive partners, and mercenary spyware used against journalists and activists.

Malware & Ransomware · Recognise, prevent, report and recover →

highIndia focus

Whaling (Executive Phishing)

Spear phishing aimed at senior executives, whose authority, access and reluctance to be questioned make a single compromise disproportionately damaging.

Social Engineering & Phishing · Recognise, prevent, report and recover →

highIndia focus

E-mail Spoofing

Forging the sender of an e-mail so it appears to come from a trusted person or organisation — solvable with DMARC for your own domain, but not for lookalikes or compromised accounts.

Social Engineering & Phishing · Recognise, prevent, report and recover →

highIndia focus

Courier & Delivery Scam

Fake delivery-failure messages demanding a small redelivery fee, and the far more damaging call claiming a parcel sent in your name contains contraband — which escalates into digital arrest.

Marketplace, Job & Offer Scams · Recognise, prevent, report and recover →

high

Agentic AI Abuse

Misuse of autonomous AI agents that browse, execute code and transact — attackers using them offensively at scale, and defenders discovering that their own agents can be hijacked into acting against them.

Emerging & Future Risks · Recognise, prevent, report and recover →

mediumIndia focus

Rental & Property Scam

Fake rental listings and property advertisements requiring an advance token payment before viewing, usually built from stolen photographs and aimed at people who have not yet arrived in the city.

Marketplace, Job & Offer Scams · Recognise, prevent, report and recover →

mediumIndia focus

LinkedIn Fraud

Fake recruiters and executives used for reconnaissance, malware delivery disguised as job descriptions or coding tests, and credential phishing against people whose profiles advertise exactly what an attacker needs to know.

Social Media & Messaging Fraud · Recognise, prevent, report and recover →

mediumIndia focus

Keyloggers

Software or hardware that records keystrokes to capture passwords, card numbers and private messages — now usually one component of a broader infostealer rather than a standalone tool.

Malware & Ransomware · Recognise, prevent, report and recover →

Use official routesFor financial loss, call 1930 immediately and file at cybercrime.gov.in. Guidance here is educational and does not replace instructions from your bank, police or regulator.