BENGALURU: An increasing number of people are falling prey to online theft using screen-sharing applications that allow remote access to mobile and computer devices. Accordingly, the Bengaluru City Police took to social media to warn the public about certain apps commonly used by fraudsters, and asked them to beware of such frauds.
“The two screen-sharing applications most widely used by fraudsters to steal money from people online are AnyDesk and Teamviewer Quicksupport,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police, North East Division, Anoop Shetty, who had taken to twitter on Thursday to alert the public.
Speaking to The New Indian Express, he said, these applications can be used by the same person for multiple personal devices owned or for remotely accessing other appliances including mobile phones, laptops and desktops.
“These applications are generally used under the guise of Know Your Customer (KYC) fraud or updating SIM and ATM cards, so people tend to grant access easily. It is very important not to provide OTP or any personal data on these apps,” Shetty explained.
Taking to social media, warning people about such frauds, the DCP tweeted: “Though remote access apps are used widely for troubleshooting, screen sharing, remote work etc. they are also used by cyber criminals to defraud people. Fraudsters lure users to download a remote access app & take control of the phone.”
He urged people to never install any application on the request of strangers, not to share any codes or OTPs with anyone, and not to approve/allow any connection request for remote access.
Meanwhile, a senior officer from cybercrime said, “Very frequently, we get such cases. Since these applications are most of the times used to steal card data and misuse it, it gets registered as bank and card frauds. Though individually, amounts lost may be less, collectively, it’s a huge amount,” he said.
