Undeniably, the sophistication of today's technological world indeed provides many benefits to our daily lives. But in every good, there must also be bad where a crime has been created which is now classified as cyber crime.
Among the cyber crimes that are no longer foreign today is fraud involving banking. Imagine all the savings we have saved for years disappearing in an instant? That is what will happen if you are not careful in doing any transaction or information sharing. So these are the signs you need to know to detect if you are involved in banking cyber crime.
1. Receive OTP Verification Code Even Without Request
The best basic way to prevent ourselves from falling victim to this scammer is to not share the OTP code with anyone, whether people you know or not. This is because the OTP code should only be used for personal purposes only. Therefore, never click on a link that you think is suspicious. If unsure, just check or contact the bank to confirm.
Anyone who asks for an OTP code from you, be it from authorities, friends, family members or even someone who used to use your phone number asking for the OTP sent to you, it's best to just ignore it. If this ever happens to you by accident, it's a good idea to double-check your banking account transactions and change your password. You can also contact the bank if there are any strange transactions in your account.
This is because, with this OTP code the scammers can access your bank account and make changes to it such as changing the password. This in turn will make you lose access to your own bank account and savings will be transferred without your knowledge.
2. Receiving Strange Emails or SMS
Have you ever received strange emails or messages from unknown individuals? We are sure, many of us have received it. In fact, it has become a habit these days where every day someone will offer a job with a good salary via SMS, right? Sometimes it's not just SMS, some also receive emails with strange messages in them. These are some of the fraud tactics that are becoming more prevalent today to fish for your personal information.
It is one of the phishing techniques, where usually the message is delivered as if it is from a known organization. Some also ask you to download APK files from unauthorized sources from outside the application warehouse (Sideload Apps) to install. This often happens to users of Android devices.
If you click on this link or make an installation, you will be asked to share personal information such as credit card number, account number, password and so on. So, when you fill in personal information through the fake website, the scammer can easily gain access to your banking account.
In fact, the link included in the SMS or email also appears to be from a legitimate organization but is actually fake. However, there is a way to detect whether it is a real message or a phishing scam.
Characteristics of Messages For Phishing
First of all, the message sent is from a private number or email that uses a public domain that we usually hear such as @gmail, @yahoo and so on. If it is sent from a legitimate organization such as a real bank, it will use a legitimate bank office phone number and their official link. As in the picture above, with the displayed email and logo it looks like a valid email from Instagram to provide a verified account, but when you click on the provided link, it will expose the user to potential data leakage.
In addition, you should check the shared link carefully because there are also sly scammers where they only change some letters that invite our confusion. For example, you receive an email from help@amazan.com instead of help@amazon.com.
The message sent also sometimes has sentence errors where it is possible to use a translation application to write it. But today, there are also many scammers who can send emails that convince the victim to take the next action.
For example, the content seems to urge you to take some action within a short period of time and threaten you if you fail to do so. Among them is asking you to make a payment quickly and if you fail to do so, your device will be attacked by viruses and lose important files.
Some even send emails with links that appear to be from real organizations. They use the same template as banking companies such as logo, interface and so on. But actually when we click and go to the given page, we are taken to a fake page.
What Should You Do If You Become a Scam Victim?
If you are one of the victims of a scam, you should contact your bank immediately through their 24-hour hotline and make a report about this illegal money transfer. You also need to ask the bank to deactivate the card and freeze the banking account for a period of time. After receiving the new login update, you need to change the new password as soon as possible.
In addition, you are also advised to keep all transaction records that have been made, as well as the details of the person or organization involved with your transaction. This information may be useful if you wish to take action and assist the police investigation.
Conclusion
Fraud involving banking is one of the phishing techniques that are becoming more prevalent in Malaysia. Various methods are used by scammers to get our personal banking information. Sometimes we ourselves are also hard to identify whether it is from a legitimate organization or not.
Therefore, you are advised to always be alert if you receive any email or SMS from an unknown party. Do not share your personal information such as card number, user ID, banking pin number and also OTP code to anyone. Always be vigilant and check all links provided before you click and enter your personal information.
But, if your money has already disappeared due to this fraudulent crime involving banking, don't delay it any longer and contact your bank or the responsible organization immediately. Take this incident as a lesson and never click on suspicious links and share your personal information with others. Anyway, if you feel unsure about something, just contact your bank for more information.