Over the last decade, smartphones have become an extension of the physical body. The convenience of getting a service delivered with a few simple taps on the screen makes it appealing even for naive users to fully adopt the digital lifestyle, enabling them to become cashless.
UPI (Unified Payments Interface) – based transactions have taken off quite brilliantly in India. In recent years, due to Covid-19 induced lockdowns and restrictions from moving out of the house, people have made comfortable transactions with mobile apps at home due to the heightened security, rather than the traditional methods.
In January 2022, more than 100,000 Indians transacted digitally. However, not everything about your phone is exclusive or hunky-dory; if you are not careful enough about your phone security, it may cause a huge financial loss. Fraudsters and scammers are using various phishing techniques via email, phone calls, social media platforms to hoodwink unsuspecting users to steal financial details.
In this concept we will learn more in detail about vishing calls- how Indians deal with spam calls. Vishing calls or spam calls are fraudulent calls made by cyber criminals to cheat people and threaten them to extract their personal information. They identify themselves as a bankers or other types of financial executives from a government background and try to collect data from the victim. The unnerving part about these people is that they are very well-versed in social engineering techniques. They are experts in speaking any regional or local language and have a good knowledge of banks and their internal systems.
Their communications are flawless and fluent, and they speak with a caring tone. This way, they build trust among victims in just a few minutes of conversation and eventually drop the hook that their bank account will cease functioning and they won’t be able to withdraw cash via ATM, if they don’t update their bank account with the PAN number or perform KYC process immediately.
In the state of panic or fear, people start trusting the person on the call and do what they ask for. The fraudster will ask you to provide them with your customer ID, password, email ID, phone number and inform the victim that once the process is done, they will get an OTP on the phone. After this is done, the fraudster will have access to your accounts once OTP is entered.
Within a second or a minute, the trapped person gets the message that money has been debited from their account. It’s at this point you realize that you have been majorly duped.
The fraudster diverts all the swindled money to various other banks. In recent years, these types of vishing calls have been on the rise, ruining people’s lives and financial health. You can imagine the distress one must go through in this situation.
In the second half of the year, impersonations of officials during the IT returns begin to start. Using the same technique to share financial details or else their bank accounts will be frozen.
Similarly, they lure victims by saying that the latter has won a jackpot, and if they share their bank account details, they will transfer the winning prize money. The same scenario takes place where they trick the victim into giving away the OTP, access to their accounts is granted once again.
Whenever you get a phone call from an unknown number or person, exercise caution when talking to them. No matter how softly or innocently they speak, do not entertain them through calls. Whether they state they are from the bank, income tax department or lottery company, never reveal your bank details or OTP. Official banks do not ask for your personal details on calls. There’s a simple logic behind it that banks already have your details, and they never ask you to update them on call.
Even if the person on the phone tells you to update your bank account immediately, don’t do it in a panic. Just hang up the phone and visit your nearest bank branch and get your doubts cleared. Additionally, if you happen to have the true caller app, just add the number to it, and if it is a vishing calls, most often than not, the number will reflect on the red-colored fraud/spam list.
With the lottery scam, it’s been reported that a bait SMS is sent stating that you have won a grand prize in an international lottery or lucky draw.
We chose your phone number as the winner, and we will transfer the money to your bank account by calling this number: 96xxxxxxxx.
You know what they say, if it looks too good to be true, it probably isn’t. Not much in life is free, and giving away free money to a random person must have its own catch. If you ever receive these types of messages, just ignore it, delete it and move on.
If you call the number back, they will talk to you pleasantly and ask for your bank account number, email, date of birth, and other personal information. They will usually call again stating that there was an issue with the tax authorities, again, they OTP will come, never share it, a One Time Password is for you only, that’s why it is call a password.
Remember, vishing calls are illegal and constitute cybercrime. Officials, banks, or IT departments do not ask for your personal information or require immediate transfer of information. This is not the process. If you have a concern regarding your banking account, go to the office or bank and resolve it in person.
In the event that you are a victim of these types of scams, contact your bank immediately and report these practices. Your account details will be blocked as soon as possible.
If you or someone you know has been a victim of illegal loan apps, there are solutions for you. SingleDebt can help cease harassment from these agents and handle the legal side for you. We urge you not to resolve this alone as this can lead to further harassment. Contact SingleDebt on +91 961 910 3594 or fill out the form either on the home page or contact page.
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