The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) of the central government has issued alerts warning citizens about various frauds such as OTP frauds, KYC frauds and identity theft fraud.
"Beware of calls looking similar to toll-free number of any bank or authorized company. Do not share any personal information like credit/debit card detail, CVV, OTP, account number, date of birth, expiry date of debit/credit cards etc. to unknown persons over phone/online," the alert regarding OTP frauds stated.
"Always visit the official website of the bank or any authorized company and verify the number from which the call/ SMS has been received. Do not share OTP's on phone calls, emails, and SMS for the sake of cashback or reward points or any such offers etc," the alert further stated.
The alert related to KYC frauds stated, "Never share your personal details like mobile number, bank account number, password, OTP, PIN, or any other confidential details with unknown persons. Bank never asks to share any sensitive information like OTP, PIN, Card details details over phone."
"Never respond to calls/messages that create a sense of urgency to share sensitive banking/personal information. Always check messages/emails for typing mistakes, misspellings, or bad grammar. Avoid clicking on links received from strangers," the alert stated.
Stating about the identity theft fraud, the alert said, "Fraudsters take advantage of users' carelessness and lack of know-how of the privacy settings which allow them to commit fraud by accessing another person's personal information- like their name, display pictures, without their permission."
"One should restrict friends list, posts visibility in social media accounts and only minimum information should be made visible to strangers. One should not share their passwords with anyone, use strong passwords, Enable Multi Factor Authentication and use updated antivirus solutions in all your devices," the alert stated.
