Coronavirus EMI scam alert! Protect yourself from online fraudsters
Moratorium offered by banks on home, car, personal and credit card loan is offering an ideal opportunity to these fraudsters to play with psychology of gullible customers


- Apr 9, 2020,
- Updated Apr 9, 2020 4:03 PM IST
Two kinds of viruses are currently attacking the people and the communities. One, the coronavirus or COVID-19, and second are the hackers and the online fraudsters. Both the viruses kill. The coronavirus takes your life and an online fraud hits you financially, killing your hard-earned savings. The highest risk segment comprises old people, pensioners and those from smaller cities, semi urban and rural areas. "Fraudsters are taking advantage of the current situation," says Sameer Ratolikar, Chief Information Security officer at the HDFC Bank. The moratorium offered by the banks on home, car, personal and credit card loan is offering an ideal opportunity to these fraudsters to play with the psychology of gullible customers. Following is their modus operandi:
The hackers and fraudsters have phishing tools and crawlers to search for customer details on bank websites, Twitter and Facebook pages. This gives them some basic information about customers and their relationship or past grievances. They use this information masquerading as bank representative to get friendly with the customer. They offer the moratorium terms to customer and get back asking for the OTP to complete the moratorium formalities.
These are three prominent ways through which hackers or fraudsters are conning people. If you fall prey to a fraudster or a hacker, approach your bank immediately and also report the matter to the cyber crime cell.
Also read: RBI proposes, SBI disposes; banks resist moratorium to NBFCs
Two kinds of viruses are currently attacking the people and the communities. One, the coronavirus or COVID-19, and second are the hackers and the online fraudsters. Both the viruses kill. The coronavirus takes your life and an online fraud hits you financially, killing your hard-earned savings. The highest risk segment comprises old people, pensioners and those from smaller cities, semi urban and rural areas. "Fraudsters are taking advantage of the current situation," says Sameer Ratolikar, Chief Information Security officer at the HDFC Bank. The moratorium offered by the banks on home, car, personal and credit card loan is offering an ideal opportunity to these fraudsters to play with the psychology of gullible customers. Following is their modus operandi:
The hackers and fraudsters have phishing tools and crawlers to search for customer details on bank websites, Twitter and Facebook pages. This gives them some basic information about customers and their relationship or past grievances. They use this information masquerading as bank representative to get friendly with the customer. They offer the moratorium terms to customer and get back asking for the OTP to complete the moratorium formalities.
These are three prominent ways through which hackers or fraudsters are conning people. If you fall prey to a fraudster or a hacker, approach your bank immediately and also report the matter to the cyber crime cell.
Also read: RBI proposes, SBI disposes; banks resist moratorium to NBFCs