Unmasking digital deception: Phishing, smishing, and vishing attacks explained

For Nayan Saxena (name changed), 26, a sales and marketing professional, it was just another link in a Telegram group, one that claimed to use Artificial Intelligence to give promising stock recommendations. One click. That’s all it took for scammers to wipe out Rs 3.25 lakh from one of his bank accounts.

What began as curiosity about the “AI trading group” quickly spiraled into a nightmare. He observed the group for a month, and was impressed by their seemingly accurate stock predictions. A modest investment of Rs 8,000 for a trading course seemed reasonable. But the silence that followed was ominous. Saxena made peace with the fact that he was duped. However, his misery didn’t end there.