SMS Fraud: Swindlers’ new trick to fleece you – follow these steps to be on guard

Regardless of how many precautions investors take, fraudsters  devise a number of ways to defraud the gullible victims.

One of the clever ways which fraudsters have started using to take investors for a ride is through ‘SMSes’. Some random person claiming to know your family will call you to ask for your bank details so that money can be sent to you. Although the money is not remitted but you still receive the message that the money has been received.

Strange? Well, we will explain this part in a bit.

After you get the message, the caller calls again to inform you that an excess money has been received and therefore, requests you to return the surplus.

You would trust the SMS that you received and you would – therefore -- be believed into sending this excess money. But sadly, this transaction will be real, thus making you lose some money.

Something similar happened to one Aditi Chopra who shared her experience on ‘X’ platform.

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This is what happened to her:

1. She receives a call from someone who claims to know her father and he is supposed to send some money to him but since he allegedly failed in his attempts to send it, he now wants to send the money to her via UPI.

2. He reads out her number and while talking, she receives a message in a typical bank credit message format which makes her believe that some ₹30,000 has been sent from this old man to her account.

3. Now the real problem starts. He claims that he has sent ₹30,000 by mistake instead of ₹3,000 he was supposed to send to her father. So, he urges her to send the remaining ₹27,000.

4. He tries to create an urgency of sorts telling her that he is at a doctor’s clinic and has to pay the money to him.

5. She gets suspicious and moreover, she does not fall into his story which he cooked up about her father telling him to send her the money.

6. She checks the SMS again to realise that the message was sent from a mobile number and not from her bank. This confirms her doubts, and therefore, doesn’t send the money.

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7. When she calls him back, she fails to reach him since her number gets blocked.

Precautions which users should take:

1. Never trust a stranger for financial transaction even if s/he is offering to send the money.

2. When money is received from a bank, the sender’s number shows that the message has been sent from a bank and the initials of the bank’s name are shown in the sender’s inbox. So, don’t just go by the text of the message, ensure to cross-check the sender’s number too.

3. When someone tries to create a panic-like situation, putting pressure on you to send the money, consider this as a big ‘red flag’. Never believe a story from a stranger, however genuine it may sound if this is aimed to convince you into sending the money.

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4. Never forget to cross check from the key source before sending money. For instance, if someone says your mother asked you to send the money, check with your mother before believing the stranger on his face value.

To sum up, it is vital to be extra cautious of fraudsters. Be careful of what you are being told and never fall into their trap.