If you receive mails offering free tickets to the gala event, know someone is phishing for you

The IPL virus

If you receive mails offering free tickets to the gala event, know someone is phishing for you

Twenty-five-year-old Prateek Chaturvedi, who recently filed his income tax returns, was amazed to receive a mail from the I-T department, claiming that he was eligible for a tax refund. But he was in for a nasty surprise when he filled out a form attached to the mail. His brand new laptop was reduced to a piece of junk and all the data on his hard drive was stolen.u00a0

The Indian Premier League is attracting cricket fanatics, but it's also attracting
cyber criminals, who are using the event to con innocent netizens. PIC/MID DAY

Prateek, a marketing executive with an east Delhi firm, had no clue until he took his laptop to a repair shop. The mail was in reality sent by a cyber criminal, cashing in on the hectic activities at the end of the financial year.

"I was really happy to see that our government departments have improved so much that they have mailed me for the tax refund within a few months of filing the returns. The mail appeared completely genuine. It was sent from the email id refund@incometaxindia.gov.in with the subject, Rapid Tax Refunds. I filled the attachment with the mail and the very next day my brand new laptop crashed," said Prateek.

"The mail also mentioned that my return amount was Rs 1,50,000, which was exactly what I was entitled to. The mail landed up in my inbox instead of going to spam mails. Now I have lost all my personal and official details as I use my laptop for all my work," explained Prateek.

In the past few days, thousands of individuals and organisations have received emails, purportedly from the Income Tax department, with a form to be downloaded and filled up for claiming a TDS refund. At the time of the year when most taxpayers file for claims, the attackers are successfully using the name and logo of the Income Tax department to lure people into their trap.

The body of the mail says, "Dear applicant, after the last annual calculation of your fiscal activity we have determined that you are eligible to receive a tax refund of Rs 1,50,000. Bank account holders at the Bank of India will receive the money within 12 hours after filling the form. To access your tax refund please complete the form attached to this email."

"Cyber criminals are getting very intelligent. They are writing malware and virus according to the current trend. As it is the year-end, criminals have started cashing in on income tax refunds. As one downloads the attachment and fills it, the system gets infected. While doing this, a spyware gets downloaded to the system which steals all the data and financial details, leaving no tracks of the actual sender," said Rajat Khare of Appin Security.

Not just I-T, cyber criminals have even jumped on to the IPL bandwagon.
"We are already noticing spam mails, offering users IPL alerts, even trying to tempt them with couple tickets for the final match," said Symantec vice-president (India Product Operations) Shantanu Ghosh.

"It is likely that cyber criminals would use the Indian Premier League and Commonwealth Games (CWG) and the soccer World Cup as baits for Indian users," he added.