It is often joked around that commonsense is not so common. Well, the same appears to be the case with the typical Indian bank account holder.
You must be aware of, if not yourself, at least one near and dear one or an acquaintance who has been defrauded of a large sum of money using technology to obfuscate the process of fraud.
State Bank of India, considering the ground reality of an average consumer, has released recommendations to help save hard-earned money from fraud.
Twitter was the platform where the bank chose to release this advisory.
The theme is loans online using apps and websites. These offers by lesser known and fly-by-night began mushrooming right and left in the pandemic 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 shy of shoving the advertisements for the loan down the throats of app users via notifications, advertisements, and other avenues.
Such deceptive businesses thrive on greed and naivety inherent in human nature. When someone is need of cash and a helpful-looking notification or ad pops up giving pleasure now, then it becomes difficult to resist the temptation.
To reach the maximum possible consumer, the bank tweeted in the national language of India, Hindi advising to stay away from instant loan applications in addition to never click on unverified links.
This author concurs with the bank’s advisory, and advises that each person keep his or her bank account as much isolated as possible from apps.
Further, sharing of OTP is better done on the bank’s website after confirming the amount being transferred.
At the end of the day, only the account holder will be left holding the pain as the bank will show its pages of legal contract and the app or link person and company will become untraceable.
Thus, keep your bank account safe from most apps. If possible, prefer UPI apps from your bank only.