Scamster are getting smarter day by day, they always try to sneak into our pocket to make a big hole. In a recent kind of scam, the scamsters are making use of the online shopping. They make use of the people weakness and try to infiltrate directly into their pocket. In a recent case, a person was robbed of his bank balance when he was asked to share the OTP for the cancellation of a fake online order. Actually,
the guy from India, find a delivery guy with a parcel on his doorstep, when the guy confronted that he did not order anything, the delivery guy asked to share the OTP received as part of the process to cancel the order. The guy trusting the delivery guy shared the OTP. After a little while, his entire bank balances were wiped out. It was trap that the scamster put to get the mobile OTP.
This is a way new technique, and people addiction of doing multiple online shopping were used by the scamster to make way for their intention. So to avoid falling into such trap, one must need to remember all kind of shopping that they have done. This is entirely a new modus operandi that scamster putting in use.
Digital banking has allowed us to manage our finances very easy, but it has some cons as well. How secure are our mobile banking or our net banking or how much our information are safe?
While the financial institutions implement their own security measures. Here are some of the ways by which we can keep our online banking secure and safe, something which is much needed in this vulnerable time:
Choose strong & Unique password : Gone are the day when we use to keep generic passwords, like the date of birth, marriage date or number (pw123 / 456789 etc). Or keeping something personal information as the gateway to the digital world. This is an easy gateway for the hackers to sneak into your wallet. Avoid setting shorter passwords. Relying on common words or simple number combinations always say no to them.
Do not write the passwords at common places, like back of debit or credit cards or keep them in the wallet. This is like screaming to somebody to just comes and get away with all your balances and open invitation.
Enable two-factor authentication: Two factor or multi factor authentication adds to the second layer of security to our account. It is like first we have to enter the login id or password and then we have to confirm the identity through code or phone calls or identifying an image. This is kind of second security test. This makes it difficult for the hackers, or an identity thief to unlock your account. Even if they have their online login id and passwords, they have to reach out to you for another layer of verification.
Always ask the bank for the 2-factor authentication and learn to enable them into your account.
Steer clear of public wi-fi : Restaurants, Airports, Café, Public wi-fi is a convenient way to stay connected but, it can not count to be secured. These are very easy way for hackers to hack your account. A hacker can electronically “eavesdrop” on your banking and other online activity. There are few ways through which we can secure our online activity over public wi-fi, disable public file sharing or consider using a VPN.
Sign up for banking alerts: Banking alerts notify the customer about the action taken on your account. We will receive instant notification through #sms, #mails or #whatsapp msgs about any activity relating to the bank account which could be suspicious or fraud activity. If we get any kind of suspicious activity immediately contact the bank for necessary protection steps.
Be-wary of phishing scams: #Phishing is a the most common methods that the identity thieves use to gain access to personal or financial information. It can be of different forms but more often, they were in emails or text scams sometime even phone calls. Better we must avoid any lucrative offers receive through such message.
Finally, do not let scammers to better of you. Beware and stay alerts to fight against these hidden faces behind the digital world.