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Received money on your UPI app from a stranger? Here's what you should do next
Cybercriminals can access your PAN, Aadhaar and bank account details by taking advantage of your ignorance.
Do you use UPI apps to make digital payments? If yes, there is an update you should not miss. Fraudsters are now duping people through unified payment interface (UPI) apps in a novel way. Recently, there was a report of cybercriminals looting ₹1 crore from 81 people in Mumbai.
It has emerged that the fraudster deliberately sends money to your account using UPI apps. He/she then asks you to repay the money on pretext that it has been sent by mistake. If you repay that amount to the caller's number, you would end up being a victim of a malware attack.
When the user repays the money using UPI apps, then his/her entire data including bank and other KYC details including PAN, Aadhaar etc become available to the fraudster and such details are enough to hack the bank account, Delhi-based cyber crime expert Pavan Duggal told Hindustan Times' sister website Livemint.
He adds that the entire modus operandi is a mix of malware phishing and human engineering. Thus, the anti-malware software won't protect users from such online fraud. As a result, the best solution is to respond to such calls saying you have asked the bank to look into the matter. The cyber crime expert also suggested the users to tell these callers to come to the nearest police station and collect the money instead of repaying the amount through such apps.
