According to the Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), in the year 2020, 50,035 cases of cyber crime were reported in India which is 11.8 percent compared to a year ago. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has recently once again alerted bank consumers about fraud. In fact, certain types of fraud are more common than others and being aware of them is the first step toward keeping yourself safe.
Mayur Joshi, CEO of IndiaForensic.com, a company involved in prevention, diagnosis and investigation of financial fraud, says, ‘, it is important to know and read about these scams.’ It may be helpful to know about some methods of financial fraud and ways to avoid them.
Fraud
During the pandemic, some people stopped visiting bank branches, giving fraudsters the excuse of updating Know About Customer (KYC) documents as an opportunity for fraud. Ritesh Bhatia, cyber crimes investigator and cyber-security consultant, says, ‘the way fraudsters work is simple. They send an SMS message to the customer warning him that his card or bank account will be blocked. The customer receiving this message takes action without considering its validity. When he calls the number given in the SMS, he is asked to provide personal details in the name of confirmation of his KYC information. For example, you are asked about account and login details, card number and CVV, PIN number and OTP. Fraudsters may also ask panicked customers to download a remote access app to their phone giving them complete control of the phone.’ Once the phone is controlled, the fraudster hacks all the bank information entered in it and then withdraws the amount kept in the account. On the other hand, the account holder comes to know about this when money withdrawal messages start coming on his phone.
That KYC update is never operated through any third party app. Bhatia says, ‘you should immediately contact the bank or card provider company if you receive SMS from an unknown number. For this, you should call the number registered on the back of the card or customer care. One should not even search the bank’s customer care number on the internet because many times fraudsters keep fake numbers on the web.’
Yash Tyagi, Chief Technical Officer, Cache, says, ‘be very cautious while giving information for KYC purpose, even if you are doing so on any website? There are many such fake sites which keep collecting KYC data. Fraudsters can make multiple copies of KYC details and can also use it to take a loan in your name.’ Therefore, not only SMS, be alert on the website along with receiving call-email messages asking for KYC update.
1. SIM swap rigged
Suppose you have a 3 G SIM card and want to update it to 4 G. For this you request the service provider company to issue a 4 G SIM instead of a 3 G SIM. This is the authentic way to swap SIMs. In this, on your request, the telecom company deactivates the old SIM and gives a new SIM which becomes operational within a few hours. Our mobile phones contain a variety of information, including our contact numbers, photos, emails and SMS. These also include OTPs coming from banks during ATM withdrawals and netbanking transactions. ‘SIM swap fraud proved to be a nightmare for many mobile phone holders during the pandemic, says Joshi. Many people were confined within their homes during lockdown when they received requests to swap cards or messages that cards were blocked.’
Actually, fraudsters use SIM swap technology to block your SIM and steal your financial information from it. According to Joshi, service providers use fake documents to contact the company for swap through SIM swap. After confirmation, the telecom operator deactivates the old SIM and the fraudster gets a new SIM card. This means that once the SIM is swapped, they have access to your OTP, financial accounts and card related alert messages.
But before contacting a service provider, fraudsters also try to somehow gather personal information about the targeted person so that security questions related to the victim’s mobile number can be answered. Joshi says, ‘such information can be collected about the victim from his social media accounts or other public sources. A person plotting a SIM swap may also send fake emails to a potential victim asking them to provide some personal information.’ This information can be used to unlock his mobile phone number.
What to do
Do not give information about yourself to anyone. If you do not see the service provider’s signals on your SIM, contact your operator immediately. Well, if your SIM has been deactivated at midnight then you cannot do much.
2. UPI related fraud
Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is a feature in which you or a merchant can send a money collection request to a user. Fraudsters are using this feature to cheat on second shopping sites. Manoj Chopra, Head of Innovation and Products, Infrasofttech, says, ‘When you want to sell a product on such a site, fraudsters show interest in purchasing it and instead of sending money, they send a request to collect the money. Remember that transactions do not need to be authorized when money is sent to your account but fraudsters spread similar confusion to you and you share your PIN after which you withdraw the amount from the account.’
What to do
Remember that you do not have to pay any PIN or OTP when money comes into your bank account. Similarly, even when you are asking for money in UPI, you do not need to enter any PIN number. Take care of your PIN as much as you take care of your ATM PIN. Never tell anyone about it.
3. Offline fraud
We often become careless while withdrawing money from ATM, we do not even notice that even a little carelessness can cost us dearly. While entering the PIN number inside the ATM, someone standing near you can know it. Chopra says, when using ‘ATM, keep in mind that no one is very close to you. You can never say with certainty that the person standing next to you is not a fraudster. When you enter the PIN number of your card at the time of withdrawal from the ATM, that person also knows it. Apart from this, the place where the card is inserted in the ATM machine can also be tampered with. In such a situation, when you enter your PIN number, that number is also entered in the device installed in the card slot. Fraudsters use it to make fake cards and make online purchases and withdraw from ATMs abroad.’
What to do
Before installing the card in the ATM, inspect the card slot thoroughly. Make sure it is not tampered with. Apart from this, covering with the other hand while pressing the PIN number is also a good habit. Also, do not allow anyone to stand around you at the time of evacuation.
Keep these things in mind
Vigilance is the best way to avoid financial fraud. The most important thing is to follow basic online safety methods to avoid phishing. Ankit Ratan, co-founder and CEO of Signzi, says, ‘You should use the facility to determine the number of transactions on your card and savings account. This way you will reduce the risk of fraud to a great extent.’ This restriction can be fixed for all types of transactions – domestic, foreign, POS, ATM withdrawals and online. The bank also allows you to switch on and off debit and credit cards. If you are not using any card then you can rest assured by switching it off. Apart from this, transaction limit can also be fixed on the card being used. In this way your risk of loss due to financial fraud will be significantly reduced.
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