As people are shifting to net banking because of its accessibility and more comfortable. It’s only natural that flaws will take their place in it too. Fraudsters set their traps on web and if you don’t pay attention you will become their prey. RBI stated that there is a massive Rs.71500 crore worth of bank fraud took place in financial year 2018-19.
But don’t panic you just need to use your common sense and you are good to go. We will get you covered by providing 7 smart ways to prevent this dreadful situation.
1. Strengthen Your PIN and Passwords
They are like locks for your money, set them right and they will protect you. Avoid writing them on paper or sending it to someone by an email or SMS. They can be vulnerable to seize. Try to use strong combination of letters and symbols to make them even impossible to guess.
Never use generic or too easy passwords. Hackers sneak into your account using a computer algorithm called Brute Force Attacks. They attempt to login into your account with username along with millions of password combinations in seconds. The password combinations could match when you have easy password e.g. ‘password’, india123′, ‘12345678’ etc. To make your password strong, make it a combination of Lower alphabet , upper alphabet, numbers and special characters.
2. Never Share Account Info through Phone
Never share your card details over Whatsapp or other messengers. You should not even click a photo of your Debit and Credit card. Storing it in your phone will make them exhibit to everyone who hands on it or when you lost it.
Also sharing it over the email makes no difference. If it’s important to share your bank account details for whatever reason, it’s only smart to do it in person and only with trusted individual.
3. Don’t Provide Account Information Over Call
This is trending the most, recently. Scammers call users over the phone on behalf of the Bank’s customer care and ask for the details like account number, OTP and Credit card PINs. Innocent users get caught in scam and give all this as they think it’s from the bank itself.
Over 900 cases of fraud related to debit and credit cards and net banking took place in April-September 2018. This situation is the most crucial. To prevent this, one thing you should keep in mind that your bank will never asks your account number, PIN or passwords. They have this information already at the very least. You need be very suspicious whenever you get a call like this. If you have doubt on the caller just hung up and call directly to the bank.
4. Beware of Fraudulent Links
It’s also possible that you will get an email from Bank requesting these details. Your best bet is that it’s a scam mail and you should avoid clicking on the link given in it, as it will lead you somewhere else. The best solution is to enter bank’s provided address and operate from there. Also keep in mind to never save the password on online browsers. Stop being lazy over it and always enter your password manually.
5. Avoid Public WiFi and Cyber Café
Never use public hotspots for online banking. It will make it easier for hacker or ISP provider to keep a track on and penetrate your details. Also try avoiding using net banking on a cyber café as it can lead your details at risk.
Even at your personal desktop use antivirus, malware and firewall protection to raise the defenses. This will definitely reduce the chances of Cyber attack and fraud attempts.
6. Lost Card? Act Immediately
If you ever mistakenly lost you card, don’t need to rush. It’s a very human thing to make mistake. But not taking necessary steps over it can create problems.
Act quickly when you realize that you card is missing, call the bank and they will block every transaction of it. This will save you from suspicious persons who will get their hands on it.
7. Fraud Happened? Keep Calm and Report to Bank
If you unfortunately you get caught in one of the fraudster trap and lose money in scam, don’t panic don’t even rage. Let your bank know about the situation and in some cases you will get some percentage of your amount.
Latest RBI guidelines stated that if a customer inform about the fraud to the bank, they need to credit the amount in customer’s account within 10 working days.However, customer liability has to be decided and it will compensate according to limited liability provisions which vary bank to bank.
By following the above steps you can secure your banking environment. Online frauds are frequently taking place so it’s best to shield yourselves as nobody wants to cost their hard earned money.
