Watch out, no stranger over phone will give you money

Callers claiming to be from your own bank will befuddle you into believing every word they say. They scare you with an expiring account, policy or maybe they just want to confirm your last ATM withdrawal.

Worried over losing money or because they already seem to know so much, you will divulge your account details and before you know it, thousands would have slipped through your fingers.

These phishing calls have been on the rise in the City. People are caught
unawares and fall into cleverly-laid traps.

“A customer came running to the bank and said someone from the branch had called him and asked for his internet banking account details. He had provided them all without question. Ten minutes later, he received another call asking for the One Time Password (OTP) that was sent to his mobile phone to confirm the transaction. Again the customer obliged. He lost several thousands like this,” said Kavya (name changed), a private bank employee.

Bank warnings
Banks repeatedly inform customers that no personal information regarding their accounts should be divulged. They also send warning texts that the bank would never ask for such information. “Every time the bank sends these warning messages around, Rs three to four lakhs is spent,” said Kavya.

“They might call saying you have won a large amount of money and all you need to do now is give your account details so that the money can be deposited. Sometimes, they say you will have to pay nominal service charges of a couple of thousands to have lakhs of rupees transferred to your account. These couple of thousands may look small compared to the big price offered, but when ten more people fall for the same ruse, it adds up to a lot of money,” said B A Anil Koushik, Senior Branch Manager of Karnataka Bank, HSR Layout.

Always terminate any call that requests for personal banking information, says Lakshmana K, Manager at State Bank of Mysore, HSR Layout branch. “If you have divulged any information to the caller, contact the bank immediately and block your cards and seize all online transaction until further notice. Run to the nearest ATM and check your account balance,” he said.

An email id does not seem very threatening an information to give out. A harmless looking link or page will ask you to register with your email id and date of birth. With just the permutations and combinations of these two pieces of information, your email account is hacked.

Use strong passwords
Studies say that most people use a combination of their names and birth dates as passwords, making it easier for a smart hacker.

“At our bank, we do not encourage any email communication. All money transfers are done on either personal requests or via handwritten letters. For every high-value transfer or cheque, confirmation messages have to be exchanged between the customer and bank,” said a nationalised bank manager on condition of anonymity.

Once an e-mail account is hacked, it is easier for the fraudster to reset the password for your internet banking account. “When a customer wants to reset a password,  the new one is sent to their registered email id. People need to be careful about what they reveal when they fill forms at malls,” said Lakshmana.

“We hesitate to give even a rupee to a beggar standing right in front of us, but we somehow believe it when a stranger tells us that we have won lakhs of rupees. People need to realise that nobody will give you money for free. It is just practically impossible,” said Koushik.