Beware of Infodemic

The World Health Organization mainly used the term 'Infodemic' in February 2020 to refer to the spread of false information about COVID-19 outbreak. Information or being informed is the right of every living being. But sending or not receiving correct information creates a lot of chaos and confusion in the society. Most of the people now are sharing dangerous remedies for cure and prevention from novel coronavirus that can make the problem even worse. First and foremost everyone must check the validity and reliability of the message before sending it to others.

Many scammers and frauds have taken away money through deception by sending messages as online shopping sites or other online transaction system. This thing is moving quite feral on digital media platforms. In present times when a pandemic is hitting so hard all over the globe sadly the cases of infodemic, sharing of false information, has also aggravated. As more and more online transactions are done by people now through UPI platform due to the pandemic situation some hackers and scammers have taken the opportunity in this crucial period. One way to stay safe from this 'infodemicians' is by using government legitimate website and not to rely on any new website or web link and never ever share bank information in it. The users have to be very careful while sharing information in mobile applications that whether it is a well known or government application or not. Users also have to be very cautious of the unknown platforms otherwise the outcome can be very dangerous. In an incident in Noida, New Delhi a resident was duped of Rs 80,000 on the pretext of online delivery of liquour. The victim had ordered liquor of Rs 6,200 on a social media ad site after which he lost his money. Such cases are happening all over the country, especially the metropolitan cities. In South Africa it is hell lot of a situation. Scammers visited homes and ask people for their money as it is contaminated with coronavirus and promised them to return fresh notes which they never delivered. Similarly all the developing countries like India, Peru, Philippines, South Africa who are already struggling with the health impact of coronavirus simultaneously have been more targeted by this fraudulent.

So everyone has to be very careful on their part while sharing their personal banking essentials and also keep in mind who they are sharing it with. The educated people should help the vulnerable ones in understanding such kind of menace. It will also send a very strong message if the scammers or frauds are given severe punishment.

Arpita Choudhury,

Research Scholar, JNU.