It is often joked around that commonsense is not so common.Well, the same appears to be the case with the typical Indian bank accountholder.
You must be aware of, if not yourself, at least one near anddear one or an acquaintance who has been defrauded of a large sum of money usingtechnology to obfuscate the process of fraud.
State Bank of India, considering the ground reality of anaverage consumer, has released recommendations to help save hard-earned moneyfrom fraud.
Twitter was the platform where the bank chose to release thisadvisory.
The theme is loans online using apps and websites. Theseoffers by lesser known and fly-by-night began mushrooming right and left in thepandemic COVID-19 lockdown.
Now, these loans are offered online for any and every purpose.Even caller ID app (namely TrueCaller) offers loans. Further, the apps are not shyof shoving the advertisements for the loan down the throats of app users vianotifications, advertisements, and other avenues.
Such deceptive businesses thrive on greed and naivety inherentin human nature. When someone is need of cash and a helpful-looking notificationor ad pops up giving pleasure now, then it becomes difficult to resist the temptation.
To reach the maximum possible consumer, the bank tweeted inthe national language of India, Hindi advising to stay away from instant loanapplications in addition to never click on unverified links.
This author concurs with the bank’s advisory, and advisesthat each person keep his or her bank account as much isolated as possible fromapps.
Further, sharing of OTP is better done on the bank’s websiteafter confirming the amount being transferred.
At the end of the day, only the account holder will be leftholding the pain as the bank will show its pages of legal contract and the appor link person and company will become untraceable.
Thus, keep your bank account safe from most apps. Ifpossible, prefer UPI apps from your bank only.