Scammers are now luring victims to share their confidential banking and personal information using social engineering tactics. They are enticing their targets through a combination of too good to be true offers, promise of help and sometimes even through threats.
According to Mr. Manish Agrawal, Head Credit Intelligence and Control, HDFC Bank, There has been a rapid surge in usage of digital platforms for making payments and other banking transactions. While this has led to a significant improvement in customer convenience, fraudsters have also become motivated to use digital routes to steal money. As the ease of doing financial transactions improved, attempts to fraud the customers have equally been straight through. Seamless transaction flow gives no time to customer if he/she authorises the transaction in favour of fraudsters.
The digital frauds have seen a makeover especially since the beginning of the pandemic and are now becoming sophisticated enough to gain people’s trust. Fraudsters are using innovative methods to defraud common and gullible individuals, including those who areand are not entirely familiar with the techno-financial ecosystem.
Scammers are generally concentrated in peripheral areas around metros and urban centres to avoid actions from metro/urban police and law enforcement agencies. Bankers and law enforcement officials have been receiving reports/complaints in recent months about customers falling prey to cyber frauds in the name of KYC update, fake marketplace listings, job scams, and false customer care numbers. The usual modus operandi in such cases include receipt of unsolicited calls, text messages, e-mails, etc. with a link urging customers to share details of their bank accounts, login credentials, card information, PINs, and OTPs. Sometimes unauthorized and unverified
mobile apps are used to take control of the victim’s phone to gain access to confidential information.
It should be noted that customers are not required to authenticate through OTP or PIN for receiving any money in their bank accounts and any such request for OTP/PIN should raise an alarm.
Today, the fraudsters have extended their modus operandi, whereby they are even availing loans impersonating as genuine customer by using the credentials which are provided by genuine customers to agents in the market for availing loans, services, mobile connection, updating records in the existing facility, etc. It is important that while providing such documents to any agents etc., purpose for the submission should clearly be mentioned on the face of document.