Money Transfer Scams: How To Protect Yourself

Fraudsters obtain a person's personal data through phishing sites and information databases that have made their way onto the Internet. They may know your surname, first name and patronymic, phone number, address, in which banks you have accounts and their balance. Fraudsters also use information that people put on the Internet themselves. To reduce your chances of meeting a fraudster, do not publish your phone number, e-mail address and other personal data in the public domain, including social networks and messengers, and try to avoid publishing photos of bank cards. This information is not enough to steal money immediately, but it is enough to start communication and put your vigilance to sleep. Read this article and learn about the best way to transfer money to India.

How to recognise a fraudster?

Despite the fact that there are many fraudulent schemes, you can recognise a fraudster by several signs:

1. You have been contacted (you may receive a phone call, SMS, email or a message with a dubious link in a social network or messenger, including on behalf of your friend);
2. You are said about money (both about suspicious transactions on your card and about sudden winnings, the possibility of receiving compensation from the state or investing money in a high-yield instrument);
3. You are asked to provide any data (card number, expiry date and balance, security code (three digits on the back of the card), code from SMS or push notifications, PIN-code, login and password from the banking application, what cards and deposits you have open, when you used online banking for the last time);
4. You are put out of balance: you are frightened, rushed, not given the right to choose, pressed on pity or greed, so that you do not have the opportunity to make an informed decision in a calm environment and that you act impulsively.
5. You are offered investments with high returns, loans at incredibly low rates and other supposedly favourable conditions.

Example. You receive an SMS from the bank with the text: ‘Your card has been debited. To cancel the transaction, please call the specified number’.

The fraudster may pretend to be an employee of an organisation such as a bank, government or law enforcement agencies, technical support, or a family friend. He or she may fake the caller ID, the organisation's website or the account of someone you know so as not to arouse your suspicions. No matter what pretext the scammers use to contact you, they all want the same thing - your money.

What else can I do to protect myself from online fraud?

To protect yourself from online fraud:

• create complex passwords, keep them out of reach and change them regularly.
• compare transaction details and payment amount received in SMS or push notifications from the bank with the information on the site where the payment is made. If the data do not match, do not enter the password.
• never enter passwords to cancel a transaction - only fraudsters can ask you to do this. If you encounter this, leave the site and urgently contact the bank via the hotline or the official mobile application.

If you have become a victim of fraudsters, contact the bank immediately by phone!