Fraudsters using SMS spoofing to dupe people: Here’s how to stay safe

Have you received a One Time Password (OTP) on your phone from an unknown number? These days, a lot of complaints have come where people are saying that they have received SMS asking for confidential information. 

These are simply frauds. Banks and other financial institutions such as e-wallet companies have regularly warned customers against these frauds as they never ask their customers to share CVV, OTP, or any other banking details. They have also asked to not disclose personal details with anyone on the pretext of mobile KYC and to keep mobile numbers updated with banks for SMS alerts of all transactions.

Scammers wait for this moment when someone divulges personal information and that’s when they steal the hard-earned money.  They have also upgraded themselves with new tools and techniques to dupe innocent citizens and now they have come with something called SMS spoofing.

SMS spoofing is basically a process where the sender’s information is changed in the SMS text and it lets one impersonate as another identity. Picture this, a user’s name and mobile number are changed to act in a way that they are a different person.

When it comes to banking, fraudsters change the sender ID to make the SMS appear legitimate and genuine from a bank.

The entire process of fraud happens in a way that the fraudster will send an SMS to a person and will further ask to forward it to a specific number from the bank’s registered mobile number. If you follow what he said, then the scammer will easily link/register your mobile number with UPI on his smartphone.

Then, he will immediately call you to ask for your bank account details like debit card number, ATM card PIN, expiry date of the debit card and OTPs if needed. This information will further allow him to make a Mobile Banking Personal Identification Number or MPIN for your account registered on his device. This MPIN will then be used to authenticate transactions from the bank account.

There are exceptional cases also where the fraudster will send a ‘Collect request’ to your UPI ID and ask you to approve the request and if you follow it, you will eventually lose your hard-earned money.