Chennai: Several banks have cautioned their customers against possible attempts by fraudsters as they became active to exploit the three-month loan repayment moratorium offer in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.
The cyber criminals pretending as officials of banks have been reaching out to borrowers, offering them assistance to avail the loan repayment moratorium scheme for phishing out account details, they said.
“They have become active at a time when people are seeking immediate relief from their financial obligations.”
“After getting some complaints, many banks have started sending messages to their customers, requesting them to be cautious against possible frauds,” an official said.
He, however, did not provide details about number of such cases already registered. Country’s largest lender State Bank of India said, “Please note that EMI deferment does not require OTP sharing. Do not share your OTP.”
Fraudsters are reaching out to banks’ customers through social media, e-mail, phone calls or SMS, another official said.
“Don’t let fraudsters profit from the pandemic. Fraudsters are taking advantage of the Covid-19 pandemic by preying on public fears,” Standard Chartered said in a message. “Posing as bank representative or public officials, they might attempt to obtain personal and financial information from you, which may lead to data compromise and fraudulent transactions,” it said.
Axis Bank, in a communication, requested its customers to protect their banking information against frauds relating to EMI moratorium.”Fraudsters have started a new modus operandi to gain access to your banking details. Imposters may contact you to help postpone your EMI payments and request you to share OTP, CVV, password or PIN related to your banking accounts. Stay aware,’ the lender informed its customers.”
ICICI Bank, too, has been requesting its customers to be cautious against the deceptive activities by cyber criminals.
The Reserve Bank had recently announced a three-month moratorium on loan repayments in the wake of COVID-19 crisis for dues to be paid between March-May 2020 and left it to the banks to implement the same.
The Cyber Crime Cell in Chennai has issued an alert to the public. The notice reads, “You may receive a call asking for OTP to postpone your EMI. Fraudsters are waiting to siphon off all your money. Your bank will never ask for OTP, Pin, CVV or your net banking passwords.”
Officials of Cyber Crime Cell in the city said so far no cases have been registered. But, the alert was issued after the police got information that such fraudsters were on the prowl trying to cheat unsuspecting persons.
A police source said, “Some persons have called people asking for banking details saying the government was dispensing funds as part of coronavirus relief. Public should know neither the government nor the banks will call and ask for banking details or personal pin numbers.”
Private & Public
Several private sector banks have decided to go for the ‘opt-in’ option on loan repayment moratorium, putting the onus on the customers to take the initiative of informing the lenders of their choice to go for the three-month breather.
A slew of state-run banks have gone for an ‘opt-out’ option where the repayments automatically get deferred unless a customer informs his or her willingness to pay.
(Inputs from PTI)