SBI alert against fraud sms, Use these steps to stay safe from fraud sms

The ease to banking has increased many folds due to the internet connectivity at each and every corner of the India. The times when bank customers had to literally visit the bank for a particular purpose is over. Now the customers can access their bank account anytime and anyplace if they are connected through the bank application or through a computer.

However, with rise in accessibility to banking there has been a rise in online fraud. Customers are lured into various schemes through a sms which contains a fraud link in it. Upon opening the sms and clicking on the link, the particular bank customer loses an amount from their bank account.

Recently, State Bank of India (SBI) has urged its customers to stay alert while receiving any sms which appear to be similar to that of the bank. SBI has also mentioned few steps to self-check whether the sms received on your mobile/ smartphone are authentic or not.

SBI took to Twitter and tweeted about the issue. The bank has advised its customers to verify whether a message is from SBI or not by checking the shortcode of the message. Bank sms have shortcode starting with ‘SBI/SB’ only, example SBIBNK, SBIINB, SBIPSG, SBYONO.

A regular monitoring of messages is essential for the customers. In this way, they can monitor their banking activity. The users are also advised not to act on messages from unknown sources.

During the Covid-19 pandemic period, banks are under tremendous pressure to function with limited staff and the customers are advised to use online banking for most purposes. However taking the benefit of online banking by customers who have less technical knowledge, the fraudsters were able to dupe them of their money. The pandemic period has also witnessed a major rise in cybercrimes / bank frauds.