How To Avoid Getting Tricked By Fraudsters?

IamCheated.com Research Team | December 31, 2018 5:05:pm

Frauds in India are rising. Fraudsters come up with new tricks each day to cheat Innocent people. There have been many incidents where people have lost lakhs of rupees to fraudsters, by giving their personal banking information and OTP over the phone. The sad part is people believe fraudsters, when they call, posing as bank executives.

According to a report, many Indians have experienced some sort of fraud in their day to day life. In this blog, we will discuss different types of frauds and tips to avoid them.

How To Avoid Getting Tricked By Fraudsters?

1. Identity theft

In the case of identity theft, fraudsters collect your personal information and use it to carry out fraudulent activity. Your information is collected either through phishing, vishing or any other mode. After collecting your information, fraudsters will apply for a credit card or loans in your name. Your signature will be forged by fraudsters while applying for loans or credit cards.

Real life incident:

A person from Bangalore received a notice from the bank asking him to repay a loan which he had never taken. When he contacted the bank, he got to know that someone had applied for a loan in his name by stealing his personal information. He was a victim of identity theft.

How to avoid identity theft?

Never share your personal information like debit or credit card number, CVV, customer ID, and PIN to anyone over the call, message or email. Avoid clicking on unsolicited emails.
Develop the habit of checking credit or debit card transactions regularly, to identify suspicious transactions. In case you find any transaction not made by you, report it to the bank or Credit Card Company immediately.
Check your credit report once every 6 months. Checking your credit report regularly, helps know if you are a victim to identity fraud.

2. Synthetic Identity Fraud

Under synthetic identity fraud, a combination of your fictitious personal data and legitimate personal data is used by fraudsters to create your fake identity and apply for a duplicate insurance policy and also loans and credit cards.

Real life incident

A fraudster obtained personal information of a Mumbai resident with the help of an insider from an insurance company. After obtaining the information, he applied for an insurance policy and he used this to create a fake identity to open a new bank account and avail a loan worth Rs 1.5 Lakhs supported by the insurance policy. The loan availed by the fraudster in the new bank account, reflected in the records of the insurance company against the victim's name. The victim got to know about the fraud when he checked the credit report after 6 months.

How to avoid synthetic identity fraud?

You must check the credit report periodically to identify fraudulent transactions. In case you find any loans not availed by you, report it to the bank immediately.
Be careful when sharing personal information or identity proofs with anyone.

3. Card-not-present fraud

Fraudsters commit this kind of fraud in two ways:

The first method is they send e-mails in the name of offering financial benefits to people with the intention of obtaining card details. The second method is they use cloned debit or credit cards to carry out fraudulent transactions.

How to avoid Card-not-present fraud?

Never share personal banking information like card number, CVV, expiry date and OTP with anyone.
Be careful while swiping your card at an ATM. Do not insert your card in an ATM machine, whose card insertion slot looks odd.

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