According to a report, cybersecurity researchers on Tuesday discovered domains and botnets that have access to nearly 10 crore Indians’ private shopping data. These crucial data allegedly affects brands such as Amazon India, ICICI Bank, Policy Bazaar, and Bajaj Finserv through a massive advertisement scam.
A cyber security and digital AD threat intelligence platform located in Gurugram Com Olho, disclosed that government entities such as the State Bank of India, ITR Forms & Verifications, Indian Railways, Bank of Maharashtra, and GST, among others, are allegedly targeted to push traffic to “websites that are running Google or other forms of advertisements on their platforms, instead of redirecting them to legitimate information”.
The domains mailindiaa.com and connectinboxx.com have been identified as registered websites that use private proxies to hide their digital identities.
Over the last three months, the company has tracked the activities of these domains, gathering over 6,000 cases, according to the company.
The report mentioned “These domains are non-traceable, they don’t have sitting teams in India or abroad, or have a legitimate website,”
Advertising fraud is a global concern, with damages reported to be up to 40 Billion USD.
According to Com Olho, it is estimated that the Indian industry will lose up to Rs 3,000 crore due to advertisement fraud in the financial year 2020.