Now a days, two-factor authentication and OTP (One Time Password) security is taken into account to be the foremost important steps for any online transaction or any form of online verification. Whether it’s a bank transaction, online shopping or payment through debit/credit card, it’s needed everywhere.
In recent time, fraudsters use OTP scam to steal plenty of money from innocent people’s banks account.
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What is OTP?
An OTP or One Time Password, also remarked as one-time pin, could also be a time-bound password that’s valid for fewer than one login session or transaction, on a system or the other digital device. It’s an additional security measure that involves a two-step authentication for your online transactions. This time-bound OTP has become a extremely popular option for several financial transactions.
One-time password (OTP), a commonly used two-factor authentication, is taken into account a good obstacle against cyber criminals trying to steal money from your bank accounts through online transaction.
Also Read: Do You Use UPI For Payments? Beware, Your Money Can Be Stolen!
How This OTP Scam Happens?
Many times you have must noticed that while doing any financial transaction, you don’t receive OTP in your mobile phone.
In this scenario we predict that this might have happened due to network issues, but due to OTP fraud, OTP doesn’t delivered in your phone. Fraudsters hack the phone’s SMS and divert the incoming messages from your number to a different number.
During this case, the OTP may also go into the hands of hackers and that they can transact with it. However, it’s not that easy to try & do this in banking transactions because banking transactions need to undergo many authentication and security verification, but still you have to be extra careful.
There are an outsized number of cases within which fraudsters duped bank customers into revealing OTP or accessed it by hacking their Smartphone. But now they have found differently to bypass the OTP deterrent — by requesting your bank to vary your mobile number linked to your account.
A fraudster can just walk into a bank, impersonate you, request a change in your registered mobile number and use the new connection to receive OTPs for transactions.
In the other way fraudster/scammer can dupe a bank customer is to contact mobile operator with fake identity proof and procure a duplicate SIM card of the same number. The operator then deactivates the primary SIM number and thus fraudster generates OTP on the new duplicate number and conduct online transactions.
Also Read: Alert! Don’t Fall in QR Code Scam, Check Before Scanning Any QR Code
OTP Scam Methods
In most cases, OTP fraud occurs when –
Your phone is infected by a some malware or malicious code.
The malware can then read your messages that contains the OTP and can compromise your bank account.
You’re duped into revealing the OTP to a fraudster on call/sms/email.
Fraudsters will commit to lure you by making false promises of helping with a transaction or providing better services and if their attempts succeed, trick you into completing unauthorized transactions or perhaps cause identity theft.
Steps To Be Taken To Avoid Cyber Crime
- Never ever disclose your OTP, PIN, CVV number, card number, card expiry date, and internet password to any unknown person.
- Don’t share card details with anyone over phone or e-mail as this might cause fraud.
- No Bank or other financial institution will ever ask for credentials like OTP, PIN, CVV number, card number, card expiry date, internet password or other credentials.
- If you provide these secret credentials to any one, they will steal money out of your bank account.
- Don’t attend or answer any call if the other person asks your OTP, PIN, CVV number or other credentials.
If you’ve got installed a Truecaller App and the contact person name displays as bank manager or the name of your bank, then don’t believe that caller immediately without probing him. He may be the scammer.
Ask him to speak to you in your local language or ask him multiple questions until you’re satisfied it’s your real bank manager who is calling you.
Don’t click on links embedded in an SMS or short links (bitly) once you’re unsure about the source of the message or the sender. Clicking these links can corrupt and compromise both your phone and thus the OTP without you realising it.
So these are a number of the important point to stay in mind if you’re using any kind of online transaction. These will certainly facilitate your to forestall you from being a victim of online fraud and can save your hard-earned money.