The country's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) is cautioning its account holders about the circulation of suspicious messages via WhatsApp and social media which may trick them into sharing sensitive account details.
The bank put out a warning message on its official Twitter account after a few of its customers received fake messages asking them to share their financial credentials.
"Stay alert to stay safe! Fake offers on messages via WhatsApp and social media could lead you astray. Report any untoward incident by calling at 1-800-111109,” the notice read.
It is believed that the fraudsters call the victims and convince them to upgrade/renew their debit/credit card. Once they agree to upgrade, they will be asked for their debit/credit card numbers, CVV and expiry date of the existing card.
Then the fraudsters tell the victims that they will receive a link through SMS or a WhatsApp message and they will have to click on the link in order to complete the upgradation process.
Within a few minutes, the SBI bank customer will receive a WhatsApp message which comes with a link that when opened installs a malicious app in the background without the account holder's knowledge. This app will then garner all the One-Time Passwords (OTPs) from the account holder's phone and redirect them to the fraudster's phone.
Once the victim clicks on the link and the malicious app is downloaded in the background, the fraudster will disconnect the call saying the upgradation process is complete.
Now, since the swindler knows the victim's card details, he will begin making unauthorised transactions. To authenticate the transaction he will use the OTP which was redirected to his phone from the victim's. Once he enters the OTP, the amount which he has set will be transferred to his account from the victim's account.
If you have fallen prey to this kind of scam, here's what you need to do:
1) You can call the toll-free number 1-800-111109 and report the fraudulent transaction within three working days to claim a refund from the bank.
2) You can also send an SMS to 9212500888 by typing "Problem" or report on Twitter @SBICard_Connect. The customer care personnel will get back to you.
SBI has announced that if the fraud is due to some fault of the bank, the customer will get a full refund even if the fraud is not reported. However, the bank has explained clearly that there will be no refund if the loss of money is due to his/her negligence or if he/she has willingly shared personal banking details with unknown people.