One mistaken click on, a fraudulent cost gateway, and 1000’s swiped from a checking account.
All in a matter of some seconds.
Nobody is a stranger to the colossal universe of on-line frauds, every with a extra plausible bait than the earlier. Pratyusha Vemuri, a safety chief from Mumbai, had her fair proportion of those. Nevertheless, it was an incident in 2021 that provoked her to show the frequent downside right into a booming enterprise thought.
Her brainchild ‘Panoplia.io’, rebranded to raptorX.ai, launched in Might 2023 is an AI-based cybersecurity agency that’s developing with options and apps to offer companies and people freedom from the clutches of on-line scams whereas bettering the safety of monetary transactions within the digital house.
The thought received favour from the judges on Shark Tank Season 3, the place it struck a deal of Rs 1 crore for two.5 p.c fairness.
As for the street forward, Pratyusha says she is seeking to channel the funds into providing B2B providers and constructing a powerful staff. Wanting again on the journey that led her up to now, Pratyusha recollects being the sufferer of a rip-off.
The swing that by no means noticed the sunshine of day
In 2021, having simply returned from the USA the place she was working in safety divisions main product groups in multinational corporations equivalent to Microsoft and Akamai, Pratyusha recollects desirous to deck up her residence for Diwali festivities that 12 months.
She was in the hunt for the right swing. And lo and behold, a web site on-line appeared to supply simply the one she was searching for. “Because it was Diwali, the swing was being offered at a reduction of 40 p.c. It was an excellent deal,” she recounts.
Diwali got here and went. However the swing didn’t flip up.
That’s when it dawned on Pratyusha that she’d been scammed. “I’m often cautious due to my background in safety methods,” she explains. The truth that the web site was ‘Google sponsored’ led her to consider that it was a secure web site. However as she found whereas constructing raptorX.ai, a number of elements deemed a web site’s authenticity — some that may very well be simply missed out on irrespective of how cautious one is.
Outlined as ‘the fraudulent apply of sending emails or different messages purporting to be from respected corporations to induce people to disclose private info, equivalent to passwords and bank card numbers’, phishing is extra rampant right this moment than ever earlier than.
The rise in digital transactions and purchases is in charge.
In line with a survey by Norton LifeLock in 2020, Rs 1.24 trillion was misplaced in India within the previous 12 months resulting from cybercrimes, with 63 p.c of victims incurring a monetary loss.
However the query begs to be requested, if persons are conscious of phishing practices, how are so many nonetheless being scammed? Why has the current previous seen an erosion of belief in on-line transactions?
“Folks are likely to overlook the finer nuances,” solutions Pratyusha.
“Each message has a supply. I’d counsel wanting on the supply and the main points of the message clearly. If it’s a web site, together with guaranteeing the location is safe, additionally test the contact info supplied. Attempt getting in contact with them to test the legitimacy, check out their insurance policies.”
However juggling all of this whereas procuring on-line is a activity, agrees the techie.
“It’s a large record of issues, however since we’re all strapped for time, AI can be utilized to run an algorithm that may predict the fraudulent nature of internet sites or SMSes,” she notes.
And that is the place raptorX.ai is available in to speed up the method.
AI that serves as your eyes
The street to constructing the AI-based cybersecurity agency was fraught with studying. The gamut of on-line frauds was many, Pratyusha found — bank card frauds, UPI frauds, refund frauds, spoofing, identification theft, rip-off pop-up alerts, and many others.
Thus, raptorX.ai’s answer works on an algorithm the place it assesses a web site’s Alexa Rank (a dependable indicator to guage the web site’s recognition based mostly on the quantity of web site guests in a given time-frame). “The recognition of a web site is usually a key indicator of how dependable it’s,” says Pratyusha. The subsequent side is social media exercise.
“Rip-off web sites are sometimes not too bothered by this, because it takes effort and assets to take care of social media pages. Subsequently our algorithm can test if a web site has lively social media accounts and can alter the rating accordingly.”
The efficiency of a web site is one other parameter judged by raptorX.ai. “Scammers have sloppy, inefficient web sites. Our algorithm takes this under consideration and can cut back the rating based mostly on poor efficiency on this space.”
She provides, “We additionally have a look at the safety of the web site; when the safety cert was issued and when it expires together with any recognized malware on it.”
She goes on so as to add that sure markers counsel whether or not a enterprise is real or not. These embrace clear firm knowledge — “Real companies often don’t have anything to cover and don’t cover their firm knowledge from the registration” and age of the web site — “Rip-off websites are often run as ‘hit-and-run’ operations, which means that the location is created with the intention of being rapidly shut down by the house owners after scamming a variety of prospects”.
In time, the scope of raptorX.ai’s options is simply set to extend, says Pratyusha. That is in step with the increase that the worldwide Fraud Detection and Prevention (FDP) market is witnessing.
As of 2023, the Fraud Detection and Prevention market was valued at roughly $44 billion and poised for substantial progress over the subsequent 5 years.
A report printed in Fortune Enterprise Insights states that the sector is estimated to succeed in a dimension of $180 billion by 2030. This can influence all sectors starting from banking and monetary providers — a main goal for fraud — to retail and eCommerce. Even healthcare shall be positively impacted. AI will step in to safeguard affected person knowledge, and insurance coverage claims, and likewise be instrumental in medical fraud detection.
Pratyusha provides, “Our firm, raptorX.ai, has its personal patented AI which might detect fraudulent rings nearly immediately and course of real-time knowledge to detect all advanced frauds. It additionally supplies an intensive understanding of customers so companies could make higher and progressive choices on their merchandise and improve top-line income and cut back buyer churn.”
“Frauds are very nuanced and industries want nuanced options to forestall frauds. It’s much more essential in India and APAC as there are so many companies coming on-line and they’re uncovered to extra fraud than malware!”
One other service by raptorX.ai is the AI Kavach app, which scours a person’s cellphone when downloaded and factors out rip-off messages and web sites.
Pratyusha calls it a one-stop answer to all cybersecurity qualms. “A person can obtain the app, pay as little as 99 Rs/12 months, and provides the required clear permissions to detect fraud web sites and messages real-time on the cellphone.”
The app has been delisted for a number of months based mostly on Shark Tank’s suggestions and can quickly be obtainable for obtain. The present focus is on scaling the B2B providers.
As for Pratyusha, she is thrilled on the journey forward. “I took an issue and determined to channel my experience to give you an answer. I’m glad it may well assist many.”
Edited by Padmashree Pande.
