There are different types of frauds such as bank frauds, card frauds, investment frauds, cheque frauds, charities frauds, merchant frauds, online frauds, shopping application fraud, calling frauds, lottery frauds etc. but we will know mainly about bank frauds, how do they are executed and how can we beware of them.

What is bank fraud?

According to Wikipedia, Bank fraud is the use of potentially illegal means to obtain money, assets or other property owned or held by financial institution or to obtain money from depositors by fraudulently posing as bank. In simple words, someone will be posing like bank and they will try to get you in their offers or trick and they will ask you for details to perform fraud with you.

Types of bank frauds:

1. Phising links:

How does it work?

✓ Fraudsters create a third-party phishing website/ link which looks like genuine website, such as an e-commerce’s website, a bank’s website or a search engine.
✓These website’s links are circulated by fraudsters through social media, Short Message Service (SMS), e-mail etc.
✓ By clicking on Uniform Resource Locator (URL) and entering source like Personal Identification Number (PIN), One Time Password (OTP), password etc. you provide your confidential details to fraudsters.

Things to take care:

✓ Never click on unknown/unverified links.
✓ Delete SMS/e-mail sent by unknown sender to avoid accessing them by mistake in future.
✓ Unsubscribe the mails those who are providing links to a bank/eCommerce/search engine/website and must block the sender’s e-mail ID before deleting such e-mails.
✓ Check for the secure sign (https with a padlock symbol) on the website before entering secure credentials.
✓ Always check URLs and domain names received in e-mails for spelling errors.

2. Vishing calls:

How does it work?

✓ Imposters/scammers/fraudsters call or approach you through telephone call posing as Bank executives/ company executives/ government officials/ agents/ insurance agents etc to gain confidence, fraudsteres share a few of your details such as name or date of birth.
✓ In some cases fraudsters pressurize/trick you into sharing confidential details such as OTP/password/PIN/customer ID/Card Verification Value (CVV) etc by sighting an urgency/ emergency such as payment required to stop some penalty and attractive discount etc.

Things to take care:

✓ RBI/Bank officials/financial institutions/any genuine entity will never ask you to share above credentials.

3. Frauds using online sales platforms:

How does it work?

✓ Fraudsters pretend to be buyers on online selling platforms and show interest in sellers products.
✓ Many fraudsteres pretend to be defense personnel posted in remote locations to gain confidence.
✓ Instead of paying money to the seller, fraudsters use the ‘request money’ option through the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) app and insist the seller to approve the request by entering UPI PIN.

Things to take care:

✓ Always be careful when you are selling or buying products using online selling or buying platforms.
✓ If upi or any other app required you to enter UPI PIN to complete the transaction, it means you will be sending money instead of receiving it.
✓ Always remember that there is no need to enter password or PIN anywhere to receive money.

4. Frauds due to the use of unverified/unknown mobile apps:

How doest it work?

✓ Fraudsters circulate through social media/email/SMS etc certain app links masked as similar to the existing apps of authorised entities.
✓ Fraudsters trick you to click on suck links which results in downloading of unknown/unverified applications on your mobile/laptop etc
✓ Once the malware/malicious application is downloaded the fraudsters gain complete access to your device.

Things to take care:

✓ Always check on the publishers/owners of the application before downloading and check user ratings too.
✓ Never download an application from any unverified/unknown sources or on being asked/guided by anonymous.
✓ After downloading application they will ask you for permissions, allow only those permission which are absolutely required.

5. ATM skimming Bank Fraud:

How does it work?

✓ Fraudsters install skimming devices in ATM machines and steal data from customers cards
✓ Fradusters may also install a dummy keypad or a small pinhole camera well hidden from plain side to capture credentials.
✓ Sometimes fraudsters pretend to be other customer standing near by to gain access to your credentials.

Things to take care:

✓ Always check if there is any other extra device attached in ATMs keypad.
✓ Cover the keypad with your other hand while entering the PIN.
✓ Never enter the PIN in presence of unknown person standing close to you.
✓ Do not give ATM card to others to withdraw cash or for balance enquiry.
✓ Do not the follow the instructions given by strangers/unknown persons at the ATM.
✓ In case, if your cash is not dispensed at the ATM press the ‘cancel’ button and wait for the home screen to appear before leaving the ATM.

These were the five main bank frauds for which people fall, but there are also other types of bank frauds like SIM swap/SIM cloning frauds, frauds using screen share, frauds through QR code, fraud through lottery offers etc if you want to know about this frauds in detail then please let us know by commenting below.

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