Kaval Umratia:
What and how we eat is important to our health, just as what and where we download is important to the health of smartphones and computers. In this era of ever-increasing cyber fraud, being alert before downloading anything from the internet or social media has become not only necessary but mandatory. If you are not alert, you may regret it. If someone sends you an .apk file on WhatsApp, don't download it even by mistake. Don't download unknown .apk file from internet or email not only WhatsApp.
What is an .apk file? .apk – Android Package Kit ie Application. The format of the application that we have in our phones. When we download any app from Google Play Store, it is in this format. The applications that are on Google Play Store, Apple Store or Samsung Store are verified, their security scanning is also done. That is why the application should be downloaded only from such trusted sources.
Targeting by WhatsApp Nowadays all the people who use smartphones are using WhatsApp. So this is a very easy way for cyber criminals to reach them. It is possible that you have also been sent a document file in WhatsApp from an unknown number, in a group or by a familiar person, which will have an extension of .apk. That means .apk will be written after the file name. As soon as you download this file and try to open it, an app will appear in your phone. That's all cyber goons need.
What happens to such a file? Once such file is installed then your phone or WhatsApp can be hacked. Access to all personal information, including your banking, will continue to go to cyber gangs. Which they can use as they want. Even the messages coming to your phone will be found by them, using which they can empty the bank account. Once they get access to your phone, they can also send such a file by messaging your acquaintances from your number. There are many such dangers. In the current scam called Digital Arrest, such a file is also sent many times. As soon as it is downloaded, the access to the opposite person's phone goes to Gathiyao.
Sam-Dam-Dand uses various methods to get people to download such .apk files. Sometimes a file called Invitaion.apk will appear in your phone. As a habit, people will immediately click on the download button without looking. They will think that someone has sent an invitation. However .apk written instead of .pdf will not appear. Then sometimes someone will send a message in the group, download this file and forward it to two groups and win a bonus gift. Lured by the gift, people will download and even forward. They will not know that this is a kind of fraud. People are often intimidated. Like you have to do KYC otherwise the bank account will be blocked. For that, we have sent the app, download it and give the details. Sometimes there will be a message that do KYC on the link below or your house electricity will be cut from tonight. People also become owls due to lack of knowledge and caution.
This is equally true for computers, not only for smartphones but also for computers. Usually we search directly on Google to download the free version or crack version of any application or software for the computer. So the results are piled up. We try to open any site and download. However, this should be avoided. It may be that the website from which you downloaded the software is designed for cyber fraud. So, as far as possible, you should download anything from a reliable source. Another thing is that after downloading a file from an unknown source, it should also be scanned.
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
