What is Smishing? Here's how to safeguard yourself from such cyber threats

Cybercriminals are using SMS to hoodwink potential victims to reveal financial credentials and steal their money

Since 2022, India is witnessing 20 plus per cent growth in terms of digital transactions and currently leads the global chart too. As per the latest National Payment Corporation of India report, Digital transactions through Unified Payment Interface(UPI)-based apps processed an all-time record of 868.5 crore transactions worth Rs 14.1 Lakh crore in March.

Now, people are more confident to do digital transaction than ever before, but he/she has to exercise caution too, as cybercriminals are now coming up with intelligent ways to hoodwink potential victims to steal money.

One of the popular methods is Smishing. It is a deceitful method of sending random text messages purporting to be from reputable companies in order to induce potential victims to reveal personal information, such as passwords or credit/debit card numbers.

There are several gangs in Jamtara, Bharatpur, Mathura, and Mewat which form the quad-junction of Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Haryana, which are notorious for stealing money from smartphone users.

They use social engineering either by gaining trust with nice talking or induce fear in naive phone users and then making them voluntarily send money to their accounts or share OTPs.

For instance, they randomly send SMS to people that their bank account is frozen for nonpayment of tax and you have to pay the fine to get back access to their hard-earned money.

Due to fear of losing money, they send the mentioned amount and later realise they have fallen prey to cyber fraud. But, it will be too late to recover the money back.

This particular type of case is being registered more across the country, as the Income Tax department has made it mandatory for all citizens to link their Aaadhaar card number with PAN (Permanent Account Number), or else the PAN card will become inoperative. This also means users have re-apply for PAN card and link to Aaadhaar and even the bank. Though this is done to weed out benami (fake and illegal) accounts used for corrupt practices, cybercriminals are misusing this scenario to prey on innocent victims.

Must read | Government extends deadline for linking PAN with Aadhaar till June 30, 2023

Here's how to safeguard yourself from Smishing:
1) If you ever receive an SMS that your bank account is blocked, do not respond to it, period. Do not panic at all. Just call your local bank branch and inquire about it. Or do the next best thing, just go to your bank office and speak to them. Most often than not, the SMS will be a fraud.
Keep in mind that no bank or IT executive will send an SMS or even call that your bank is ceased.

2) There are also reports of cyber frauds masquerading as big corporate companies' HR to send job offers with a big salary via SMS. Don't get too excited. Even if you had applied for a job in a particular firm, the latter will not send an SMS with CTC details. The process will be very formal and happens via email and you'd probably get a call from the concerned person, who took the interview.

3) Sometimes, debit/credit card details and phone numbers get leaked online and cyber fraudsters use this information to make bank transactions and will try to call you or send an SMS asking for OTPs. They will also try to impress you that you have won a big prize or cash amount and add that they will send an OTP to confirm your identity. Do not fall for this trick ever. Never ever share OTPs with strangers on the messenger app or on a phone call.

Must read | Young falling for crypto, elderly for OTP scam

Remedies for cyberfraud:
If you or any person you know have fallen victim to this kind of fraud, do the following below:

Once you received authorised transaction notification SMS to phone, immediately, call the customer care number of your bank and ask them to block the transaction. Also, make sure you call the police control room to report the crime.

Here in Karnataka, citizens can report cybercrime by dialing the toll-free number 112.

Also, Union Home Ministry of India has also set up National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (here) and also helpdesk hotline 155260. The latter is 24x7 operational in Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Chattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh.

In other states and Union Territories, the helpline is available from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm.

And, if you ever receive any fake IT department notice, report it on the official Income Tax website (here). Also, forward the e-mail or the website URL to ' [e-mail] ​​​​'. You can also forward it to this email ID too-- ' [e-mail] '.

Also read | What is Spear Phishing? Here's how to safeguard yourself from email frauds

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