Tag: personal data

  • Indian call centre scammers looted $10 billion from Americans in 2021

    Indian call centre scammers looted $10 billion from Americans in 2021

    According to Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) data, US citizens lost more than $10 billion in 2022 as a result of phishing calls made by illegal Indian call centres.

    The Times Of India stated citing FBI data that the majority of the victims of these fraud calls from Indian phishing gangs were senior US nationals over the age of 60 who lost more than $3 billion.

    The FBI has now sent a permanent representative to the US embassy in New Delhi following many incidences that were reported in 2022. To bust these gangs that have threatened to make India the hub of such illegal call centres, the representative will work closely with the CBI, Interpol, and the Delhi Police.

    So far in 2022, Americans have lost a total of $10.2 billion to such hoax calls, a 47 per cent increase over the $6.9 billion lost in 2021.

    Suhel Daud, the FBI’s South Asia director, told the publication that “romance-related” scams totaled INR 8,000 crore (PKR 217.7 billion) in 2021 and INR 8,000 crore (PKR 217.7 billion) in the final 11 months of 2022. Losses from “tech support” fraud have topped $3 billion in the last two years, with $347 million in 2021 and $781 million in 2022 so far.

    “It may not be a national security concern yet, but the reputation (of a country) is involved, and we don’t want India to suffer on that count,” Daud told the publication.

    He also stated that the FBI received 850,000 complaints regarding cyber crimes in 2021 and over 780,000 lakh complaints so far in 2022. Investment-related cybercrime ($3 billion), corporate email compromise ($2.4 billion), personal data breach ($1.2 billion), romance ($1 billion), and tech support ($781 million) were among the concerns.

  • Twitter accused of profiting from leaking users’ private information

    Twitter accused of profiting from leaking users’ private information

    Twitter is allegedly giving user email addresses and phone numbers to marketers without their permission, which has put the social media giant in more legal trouble.

    The business admitted in 2019 that it may have utilised the personal data customers provided in exchange for a security feature for targeted advertising.

    Two Twitter users filed a proposed class action lawsuit against the social media platform on Thursday in a federal court in Northern California. Billy Moses and Christina McClellan, both of Texas, claim in the 38-page complaint that they would not have given Twitter their phone numbers and email addresses if they had known that the firm would utilise the information for targeted advertising.

    According to CNET, the lawsuit is the most recent repercussion Twitter is facing because of purported privacy infractions. Twitter reportedly violated the Federal Trade Commission Act and a 2011 FTC order by misrepresenting how it will use nonpublic user contact information, and in May, Twitter agreed to pay a $150 million fine.

    Users of Twitter have filed lawsuits against the social media site for violating their privacy in other jurisdictions, including Washington.

    Twitter urged users to enter their phone numbers and email addresses for two-factor authentication, an additional security measure, but failed to disclose that the information would be used for targeted advertising.

    Because marketers could utilise emails and phone numbers to determine a potential customer’s identity and learn about where they reside, what items they buy, where they shop, and other useful information, the lawsuit claims that Twitter made money off of this data without user consent.

    Due to the possibility of using phone numbers and email addresses to identify a person, there are additional hazards associated with their disclosure. According to the lawsuit, hackers may attempt to access a user’s social media accounts through email or gather other data in order to commit identity theft.

    Additionally, the corporation is said to have broken both its agreement with users and California’s Unfair Competition Law. At the time, Twitter’s privacy policy stated that while it doesn’t provide its partners access to user information like email addresses and phone numbers, it may link the data it supplies to other data if a user gives their approval to that partner.