BE AWARE WHILE BANKING ONLINE

In these fast moving times, the ability to bank from the comfort of a laptop or a PC makes managing your money easier and a lot more convenient. With access to online banking, you get a comprehensive overview of your bank account, better visibility of your finances, the ease of paying utility bills, a safe payment option when shopping online and not to mention the ease of receiving and transferring money, which otherwise would have called for a visit to the bank to hand cheques or cash over the bank’s counter. In order to safeguard the experience of customers who use online banking, banks have employed multiple layers of security measures and interfaces. Measures like 2-Factor Authentication for fund transfers, online purchases and other operations as well as security questions when you try to operate your Net Banking account from a different machine or new IP address, have been used to ensure your account’s security on the internet.

 

At the same time, it is also important to be aware of the various kinds of threats and the good practices that you can adopt to keep your online banking experience safe and convenient.

Phishing

In the case of phishing, you may receive e-mails from dubious looking email IDs. On clicking on any links or attachments in the mail, you maybe paving the way fora breach in your Bank account’s security. These e-mails usually look legitimate so it is a good practice to check the sender’s credentials before performing any other action on the mail.

These e-mails usually ask for your personal and financial account details, security codes, ID and passwords which are then misused. Fake websites using the name, logo and details of legitimate banks are also created and used to trick customers. Such mails might also install malware on your system. Hence, it is a good idea to carefully monitor your e-mails and refrain from giving out information to such websites.

Keep in mind that your Bank will never ask for such details. The best thing to do would in such cases is to contact your Bank immediately to report about such mails for the greater good of public awareness.

Vishing

Vishing is the same as Phishing, except that instead of luring customers via e-mail, the scammers use Voice over IP or a direct telephone call to gain access to your personal details. For example, you might get a call from someone claiming to be an employee of the Bank you have your account in. Citing reasons like unauthorized transactions or standard safety procedures, they might ask you to share your personal and financial details so that they can verify and secure your account. Once you share your details, they use it to gain access to your account.

It is difficult to book people involved in vishing and bring them to justice as it is conducted by voice process. Such scams are often generated from across borders, so as to avoid law and enforcement. Message or calls that seem suspicious to you should not be entertained. You should refrain from entertaining any such calls and ensure that you do not share any kinds of details. Remember that your Bank will never make such a call to you.

SIM Cloning

Once someone procures your internet banking login details via phishing, he could clone your mobile phone SIM card with the help of fraudulent documents. This allows him access to the OTP (One Time Passwords), a security feature required for completing a transaction which he then uses to execute fraudulent transactions through your account.

Ensure that your registered mobile number is updated with your bank’s database and is an active connection so that transactions using a duplicate SIM card are not performed on your account. If your SIM card is deactivated, please call your mobile phone operator immediately and register your new number with your bank.While banking online, do not forget to logout from your online Banking account and close the browser page when you are done. You may like to clear your browser history, cookies and cache to ensure that  no important data about your account is accidentally stored on the computer.  In case you suspect that you have become a victim of any fraudulent activity, please inform your bank and report it to the nearest police station. Your bank will ensure that no further transactions take place on your account by temporarily freezing access to your account.