A lot of people believe that fraudsters can steal money from bank accounts; only if they share sensitive details like card numbers, CVV and OTP. But, the fact is your bank account can be emptied even if you don't share these details. Yes, you heard it right? Fraudsters have various other tricks to cheat people and wipe out their bank accounts. One of those frauds is the request money fraud.
As the number of people using UPI apps like Google Pay, PhonePe and Paytm is on the rise, request money frauds are also increasing. You can become a victim to this fraud; if the fraudster knows your phone number. In the last few months, the Pune cybercrime police have seen a spurt in the number of such cases. In this blog, we will discuss everything you need to know on request money fraud.
See Also: How scammers steal your money through browser notification?
Request money feature provided in the UPI apps allows someone to send you a payment request. While raising the payment request; the requester himself fills the amount. Under this feature, you will receive a pop up on your app as soon as someone sends you a request.
You can approve the request; just by clicking the ‘Pay’ button and entering the UPI PIN. At the same time, you will even be allowed to ‘Decline’ the request. When you decline the request, the request stands invalid. You are allowed to block the requester; to prevent future payment requests from him.
This is how request money fraud takes place:
Fraudsters respond to sale listings on Quikr, OLX
When someone posts sales listings on sites like Quikr and OLX, fraudsters contact them saying they are interested in buying the product. To gain people's trust, fraudsters may pose as army personnel. They say they will make payments through apps like PhonePe and Google Pay.
While you are still on call; they will ask you to open the app and send the collect request for the same amount as your listing. They even type some messages like Once you pay you will receive money, you have received money and so on.
If you click on Pay and enter the UPI PIN; the amount gets debited from your bank account.
1. To avoid this type of fraud, one thing you must always keep in mind is; you don't have to enter UPI PIN for receiving money. You must enter UPI PIN only while paying money. If the sender is genuine; he will always ask for your phone number to send the money.
2. In case you have received a fraudulent money request, decline and report it to the respective company.
3. Never believe someone who claims to be an army personnel. This is a trick used by fraudsters to gain people's trust and cheat them of their hard-earned money.
See Also: Tips to protect your money from cyber frauds
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