As the number of online scams continues to grow in today’s digital world, the government warns about OTP scams. As reported by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), there has been a rise of financial scams related to OTP fraud. In spite of building security measures, people are facing such scams.
RBI further highlights that there is a lack of knowledge about financial management among many Indians. This has eventually led to the rise in OTP fraud.
Understanding OTP scams
So, what are OTP scams and how can it affect you? The term OTP stands for one time passwords, which is shared if we are doing any form of transactions.OTP scams usually take place if we share these one time passwords to any unauthorized person/ source. The scammers or fraudsters can trick us to share these passwords. For example, a fraudster might ask you to share a OTP pretending to belong to some authorized organization. After you fall into their trap you will eventually share the OTP. As soon as they get the OTP, they can use this password to access your bank account or even digital wallets.
According to the RBI, there are certain loopholes which can be the root cause of such scams. These include lack of awareness, weak security structures and inadequate cyber hygiene, among others. Given below is a brief on how these factors are causing OTP scams in India:
- Weak security structures: There are many organizations which still don’t use strong security measures. Most of them either can’t afford or they are unaware of the importance of a robust security structure.
- Lack of awareness: As mentioned above, most of us are still unaware of such scams. We often take things lightly and share OTP without doing a proper background check. This needs to be avoided.
- Inadequate cyber hygiene: Many of us have often landed up in clicking on suspicious links for sharing OTPs. This is something that needs to be avoided. Sharing OTPs without any proof of the source is not safe.
How to stay safe
So, how to stay safe from the rising OTP scams? Here are are some guidelines that you need to follow to stay safe:
- Do not share personal information or any form of financial information to unknown/suspicious contact. This can also include organization that might seem untrustable to you.
- Before clicking on any links, first verify its authenticity.
- Avoid answering unknown calls. It’s always better that you install truecaller in your device to identify the source of the call.
- Do not share OTP in exchange of lucrative cashback offers or rewards.
- Always crosscheck the backgrounds and source of any form of transaction, if you are doing online transactions.
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