Remember the Dhani app fiasco with actress Sunny Leone alleging how her details were misused to get a loan? While the matter attracted a lot of attention on social media platforms with the actress sharing how her credit report got badly affected in the process, this is not a lone incident of identity data theft.
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 Before this, many people had shared their grievances about how some unknown people had sought loans or mortgages using their credentials. Many people have reported being victims of lending institutions selling them mortgages or loans with inaccurate information or resorting to deceptive practices using high-pressure sales tactics.
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 Attempts at fraudulent digital transactions in India have shot up with more people sharing their personal and financial details online. Most incidents involving financial crimes including identity theft, confidence tricks, and digital wallet account hacks were reported from the country&rsquo;s metropolitan cities including Delhi, Mumbai, and Chennai.
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 Details from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) reveal the growing number of financial crimes that continues to be unabated despite transformation of the payments and financial services industry. Past year trends underscore how there has been a constant rise in the number of criminals booked for economic offences including forgery, cheating and fraud. Though the number of such crimes registered with various economic offences wings has come down in 2020 as per the NCRB data, experts maintain how the perennial cat-and-mouse game continues between criminals and financial institutions. &nbsp;
 Stealing Your Identity
 Many victims have blamed their telecom and banking service providers asserting how they had to share their identification details like PAN Card and Aadhaar Card with numerous entities like banks, insurance companies, internet service providers, digital payment apps, airlines, and government offices while seeking their services.
 Identity theft incidents are becoming increasingly common with more Indians getting affected by data breaches. Ignorance regarding web fraud is the key to hackers&rsquo; success. While we rely on technology to infuse more security in our daily transactions, how many of us are aware of how fraudsters manoeuvre their way into our accounts?
 &nbsp;
 Investment Frauds
 How many times have we been bombed with disclaimers screaming, &ldquo;Please read the documents carefully before investing.&rdquo;? Your mind will suddenly reel back to the various advertisements by insurance and mutual fund companies highlighting them at the bottom of the screens or announcing in a hurried tone their content.
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 Indians are not new to incidents of investment fraud. Representatives of financial institutions sell investments or securities with false, misleading information. A common example is how many people have been duped in the past into buying endowment policies under the guise of unit-linked insurance plans. Then there is a common sales strategy of veiling the cons of various investment instruments, making false promises, hiding facts and sharing insider trading tips.
 &nbsp;
 Duping Strategy
 We all have received emails announcing prizes or special gift giveaways. These kinds of frauds are not directed at someone special but used as a mass marketing strategy as part of a wider net to fish the vulnerable. These tactics mostly include mass mailings, lotteries, cold callings or spam emails sent to garner your attention. These marketing gimmicks also include issuing fake checks, sending out invitations to sham events and parties, announcing lotteries and more. Organized using mass marketing strategies, most people are defrauded of their money as scamsters gain access to personal information by pretending to raise contributions to fraudulent organizations.
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 Marketing Apps
 The Reserve Bank of India has time and again warned against clicking on links sent on email, social media platforms, SMS or instant messaging services. These links look eerily similar to app links used by existing apps by authorized entities and are designed to mask the anomaly within. Unversed customers unknowingly click on those app links only to be directed to a site that results in downloading unverified apps on their mobile phones or laptops. Considering that most people engage in banking or financial transactions using their phones or laptops, they inadvertently make way for swindlers to gain complete access to the financial details stored on your device. These financial details include confidential information stored on the device and messages or passwords received and used to sign in after downloading these apps.
 &nbsp;
 QR Code Scans
 Paying utility bills by scanning the QR codes through various payment apps is now common. Realizing this common paying behaviour by many people, tricksters often contact their target under various pretexts of seeking payment for products and services. They then trick them into scanning the given QR codes using the apps on their mobile phones. By scanning the QR codes, customers inadvertently pay for non-existent services or give access to their fraudsters to withdraw money from their accounts.
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 There is more sophistication to financial crimes now than ever before. Those committing digital payments-related frauds bank on the ignorance of customers not much versed with the idea of how to keep their finances safe.
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 Read more at:
 <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/wealth/personal-finance-news/types-of-financial-crimes-you-must-be-aware-of-identity-theft-and-investment-fraud/articleshow/90517939.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&amp;utm_medium=text&amp;utm_campaign=cppst">https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/wealth/personal-finance-news/types-of-financial-crimes-you-must-be-aware-of-identity-theft-and-investment-fraud/articleshow/90517939.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&amp;utm_medium=text&amp;utm_campaign=cppst</a>
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Financial crimes are not limited to stealing money from your accounts. These pervasive offences now extend to almost every fiscal activity that we now undertake

Types of financial crimes you must be aware of: Identity Theft and Investment Fraud

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ABSTRACT
 The information and communication technology (ICT) revolution has brought positive spill-over effects on institutions and economies across the globe, but it has also increased the information gaps between countries. A key characteristic that may explain these widening gaps is the deepening endogenous relationships between ICT infrastructure, institutions of governance, and economic growth in many developing countries. Thus far, the links between these variables have not been discernible in developing economies, so few studies have explored them. In this paper, we investigate the possible Granger causal relationships among institutional quality, economic growth, and ICT infrastructure development for a sample of developing countries for the period from 2005 to 2019. The application of a vector error-correction model reveals strong inter-relationships between all the variables in the short run. In the long run, institutional quality and ICT infrastructure development stimulate economic growth. These complex relationships are explored and lessons are drawn for policymakers.
 &nbsp;
 RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS
 We assess interactions between institutional quality and ICT infrastructure as well as economic growth.
 &nbsp;
 We deploy a panel Granger causality test for low- and lower middle-income countries from 2005 to 2019.
 &nbsp;
 We show that there is Granger causality between the variables in the short and the long term.
 &nbsp;
 For each case and specification, there is support for the hypothesis that ICT infrastructure and institutional quality both Granger-cause growth in the economy.
 &nbsp;
 In the short run, we note a feedback relationship between institutional quality and economic growth. Other short-run results are more varied, based on the particulars proxies for institutional quality and ICT infrastructure.
 
 
 Read more: <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02681102.2022.2051417" style="text-decoration:none">https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02681102.2022.2051417</a>

The information and communication technology (ICT) revolution has brought positive spill-over effects on institutions and economies across the globe, but it has also increased the information gaps between countries.

Institutional development in an information-driven economy: can ICTs enhance economic growth for low- and lower middle-income countries?

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