Beware of KYC frauds, SBI tells customers

With online frauds rising as the country embraces digital banking more and more, State Bank of India, has alerted its customers against Know Your Customer (KYC) frauds. This new kind is a relatively new product from the great mill of the fraudsters that is carried out in the guise of KYC verification.

SBI tweet

“KYC fraud is real, and it has proliferated across the country. The fraudster sends a text message pretending to be a bank/company representative to get your personal details,” SBI said in a tweet.

In view of the pandemic situation SBI has taken the decision to accept KYC-related documents through e-mail or post from their customers.

Where to report

The bank has advised customers to report all such cybercrime cases to the cybercrime department. Anyone can register their complaint via https://www.cybercrime.gov.in/ or the local police.

In any case of unauthorised transaction from their account, customers are advised to report to the toll-free customer care numbers 18004253800 or 1800112211 immediately.

How to protect

SBI has advised 3 safety steps to avoid these fraudsters.

One, think before you click. Check any link sent to you thoroughly before clicking.

Two, the bank never sends any link to update KYC.

Three, do not share your mobile number and confidential data with anyone, no matter how urgent or convincing the person on the other end of the communication might appear.

Expert opinion

Just like banks, cybercrime experts also always emphasize on raising awareness among people.

“Do not click on any link, whether it comes through email, SMS or WhatsApp, unless you know the sender. Even if you click the link, either by accident or deliberately, pause for a moment and check the URL of the website before taking any further action,” cyber security expert Reetwika Banerjee earlier told Money9.

Growing trend

Cases of online banking frauds is increasing in India. Recently Union minister Sanjay Dhotre said in Parliament that in 2019-20 banks reported ATM-debit card, credit card and internet banking related frauds amounting to Rs 244 crore.

According to a survey by Norton Lifelock, a cybersecurity software company, approximately 2.7 crore Indian adults were victims of cyber theft in the past year.

In 2020, the global loss due to cybercrime was $6 trillion, which is higher than India’s GDP and the cumulative market cap of all the companies in BSE combined.