SMS Frauds Explained: How to Stay Safe from Scam Messages

‘Alert! Your Bajaj EMI Card has been suspended. To continue using your card, unblock it here.’ - How would you respond if a message like this pops up on your mobile screen? The probability of clicking on a message that alerts you of your absent-mindedness is moderately high!
 

If you are less attentive to SMS scams, you may easily fall prey to them. Scammers carefully design such click baits to gain people’s attention immediately.
 

Irrespective of the number of spam filters you use, these messages tend to bypass all security walls to enter your device. You might think that the company has sent the message, but that’s not always the case. These fake messages are sent by identity thieves, fraudsters, or imposters, who are increasingly turning to fraud text messages (and various other tech-forward ways) to defraud unassuming users and commit. As a customer, you should be well informed and safeguard yourself from falling prey to such scams rather than seeking corrective measures later.

Every fraud has a motive. The fraudster wants money to either use the victim’s EMI card for shopping (which he will then sell) or take money from them. With the influx of instant messaging apps and internet-enabled, high-speed connectivity, each one of us is using some online messaging platform or another to communicate. And, while we thought that the traditional way of sending SMSes was ending, the surfacing of the ‘SMS verification’ trend didn’t let that happen and instead transformed the basic purpose behind it – making it a transactional platform. Then there are informational messages that often grab our attention and even prove to be useful with discount coupons and other details from reliable senders.
 

One food delivery provider’s SMS with a 50% discount coupon code, for instance, will have you jumping with joy and order from the app immediately. While some offers are good, others are ‘too good to be true’ or have been designed by hackers to look like legitimate texts but are SMS frauds. One classic example is SMSes claiming that your credit card or account has been suspended and requires KYC details to be redone.

Cheats are skilled in creating the perfect opportunity to steal an unsuspecting customer’s hard-earned money. Frauds will send bulk SMS to victims informing them that their Bajaj Finance EMI card will get blocked and need to update their e-KYC. It will have a link to click and submit e-KYC details. Victims will assume it from Bajaj Finance, click on it and enter their mobile/ EMI card details. It will have a link that takes you to a fake website where you have to furnish your account credentials, expiry date, bank account number, CVV, etc. By the time you realise that you have been tricked, the fraudster would have captured all the details you filled in and withdrawn the money from your account, used it for shopping, or transferred it to their bank account.

Just receiving the SMS doesn’t make you a victim. Fraudsters make money only when you interact or engage with them and do exactly what they want you to do, i.e., share your confidential financial details. Follow these simple fraud prevention tips to combat SMS frauds.

• Haste makes waste. Never panic when you receive such SMSes and always check the veracity of such claims by visiting us here.
• All official SMSes carry the sender code of ‘BAJAJF’.
• Stay alert and do not share your confidential card details like User Id and Password with anyone including fraudsters, posing as Bajaj Finance or Bajaj Finserv officials, whether on calls or any social media platforms or unauthorised websites.
• If you receive any such calls/ SMS/ emails seeking the same, immediately reach out to us at +91 8698010101

In case you get tricked into a Bajaj Finserv EMI card SMS fraud:

• Block your card immediately by logging onto the Bajaj Finserv wallet or Bajaj Finserv portal/ Bajaj Finserv or calling our customer care number 08698010101 from your registered mobile number.
• Report suspicious fraudulent incidents to your nearest police station.

Savdhan Rahein. Safe Rahein.
 

Addition Read: Security Against Frauds