In light of the global pandemic crisis and the ongoing series of lockdowns in India due to the coronavirus, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has just announced the granting of a 3-month loan moratorium to bank borrowers and other financial loan customers.
For those who qualify, this means that they won’t need to pay their loans and other equated monthly installments or EMI during that period.
This is undoubtedly good news for loan customers and banking consumers in India. But wait, it turns out that cyber attackers are taking this opportunity to scam people. EMI Moratorium options have been used before, but it’s being highlighted today after the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) announcement amid the current lockdown situation in India.
Well-known banks in India, like SBI, Axis, RBL, ICICI, including others, are desperately trying to consolidate their efforts to caution and safeguard their customers against these EMI moratorium scams. Hackers are very well-equipped with all the resources to defraud any individual, especially banking customers. They can try to acquire the borrower’s banking information by sending fake SMS or emails claiming that it came from the bank, offering them the moratorium scam. This can be done while they request for their OTP via mobile using that fake message, which leaves the rest to the hackers.
Millions of people in India receive calls and text messages daily, from call centers all over the country, asking them to update and provide their bank account information. This is no different from the process for offering the moratorium on their home loan or other loans EMI. The most important thing to keep in mind is that no bank or representative of the bank will ever ask for your banking information – OTP, Authorization Code, CVV, Password, Account PIN – upfront when applying or asking for info on the EMI.
For those who have already shared their information by accident, they are advised to inform their respective banks immediately to avoid scam.
Contact their banks on their legitimate phone numbers or email addresses only. Change their PINs, Passwords, and all other account-related securities they have for their accounts. These should at least help in stopping any unauthorized transactions or prevent further scams made by the attackers. If they are unable to reach the bank right away, they can report to the nearest police station for assistance.
Since the dawn of the global pandemic crisis, these hackers and cybercriminals have adapted and managed to pull their resources to device numerous techniques to scam people. They have no regard for the chaos they would cause, even if it means using the current crisis as the catalyst.
