While GooglePay Paytm and PhonePe are fostering a new manner of digital payments, it is also opening up the door wide open for new forms of scams to trick unsuspecting users.
You must have heard a lot about the scams of digital payments nowadays. Well if you haven’t then we are here to enlighten you on all you need to know about the Scams of GooglePay Paytm and PhonePe
There are some common forms in which a digital payment user can be scammed on Google Play Paytm or phone pe let’s discuss all the potential ways one by one.
Common Google Pay, PhonePe, Paytm UPI Scams
Request For Money Scam On Google Pay, PhonePe And Paytm
The most repeating scam on the digital payment platforms of today is Requesting money.
In this kind of scam, a genuine user of GooglePay or PhonePe gets a request for money in place of getting the actual payment in their wallet or bank account.
Requesting for a money scam happens because of a lack of interest on the part of the receiving user. If the user stays alert and attentive he or she can easily recognize that the payment hasn’t been received and the notification is a scam.
On the GooglePay app users are unable to request money from other people by using a simple tap option of request for money.
By this option fraudsters usually try to cheat other people and take advantage of the other person.
For instance, suppose you are selling an article to a person and he is paying the amount through an online payment platform.
However, instead of paying you the amount he or she requests money from you. You see the notification of the same amount as the other person was about to pay you and you think that the money will successfully reach your bank account. This way a fraudster can cheat you and take advantage of you.
Refund Or Cashback Scams
Another popular scam of GooglePay, Paytm and PhonePe is Refund scam or cashback scam. In this scam, the online payment user pretends to be a staff agent from the bank or a company and manipulates you into believing that you have earned a hefty refund or a cashback on the usage of your bank account.
After a little while, the same fraudster sends you a link and instead of thinking logically you click on that cashback link in excitement and insert all your bank details whichever are asked on that link.
Inserting your bank details on any site or form without any due diligence can put you in great trouble. Instead of getting any cashback or refund amount you might lose all the balance that is in your account.
Remember to always make sure to check the information before clicking on any link and never insert your PIN because these online payment apps never ask for a PIN for accepting any cashback or refund.
Also Read: 4 Best UPI Payment Apps in India
Vishing Scam
Fraudsters try to get access to your phone by peeking into it for things like passwords, PINs, and more. As simple and easy as the process of online payment it can also be incredibly risky as well.
Any fraudster can easily hack your phone by using platforms such as AnyDesk and know your PIN and passwords of your financial accounts.
There is much remote access software available in the market as well. By using it hackers can very easily hack your account and take all of your money out of the account. This software has the efficiency of taking OTP’s for finishing any online payment transaction.
In such a situation you might receive a call from a person pretending to be a bank staff member regarding issues such as KYC issues with your bank account.
They might ask you to download platforms like AnyDesk, Share screen, or more to take KYC-related information from you. However, via such platforms, they take remote access to your phone and personal data and then hack your bank accounts.
With such amounts of personal information and data, any hacker can hack your account and take all your money out.
Make sure to always remember that no bank staff will ever call you and ask for your personal details. Moreover, never download any platform or app. Just because a bank representative is asking you to.
Cloning Sim Cards
The other form of scam of these online payment apps is when a fraudster accesses your bank account by cloning your SIM Card number with the sim card owner’s knowledge and consent.
A hacker can access your PIN, OTP number, Passcodes, and many other personal details by cloning your registered number.
By hacking a user’s sim card a user can also change the UPI PIN or maybe change your registered number so that you won’t be able to access your bank account in the future.
These SIM cloning scams are increasing in India day by day. However, cloning a sim card number is not that easy work therefore to avoid this kind of scam, Online payment users have to be active and diligent.
Also Read: How to set up UPI Auto Pay On Netflix?
Forwarding Message Scam
Another type of Scam that very recently came to the attention of the users is where a scammer pretends to be a legit officer of the bank. For some urgent matters such as KYC compliance and more the scammer sends a link on your number and asks you to open the link and forward the message, OTP number, or password on that link.
This kind of message often includes an alphanumeric identifier by which the scammer can also make a new UPI account linked to your bank account.
The scammer can give you any legit reason to get your attention and faith by saying that you have won a cashback or a gift and asking you to tell him an OTP for processing the gift.
This scam is becoming quite popular these days therefore all online payment users must not give their OTP or access to their phone to any person.
Fake Support Staff Number
This scam is a highly popular scam. With this scam, more than thousands of online Payment users have lost a significant amount of their money from their bank account. In this kind of scam, the Online payment user finds the number of the Support staff from the internet and contacts them for some assistance.
Nowadays the numbers available on the internet are fake. These scammers pretend to be the support staff of a bank, restaurant, courier services, and many more entities.
When you call on any of such numbers the scammer can ask you for some personal details that you think are a part of basic due diligence but it can be used for hacking your accounts, phone, or bank account.
Moreover, the scammer can also ask you to pay half or full amount for the courier or whatever service you want from them in exchange for providing you the service in the future.
He might also ask you to confirm the order on UPI or other online payment platforms. After this, your bank account will be hacked and no amount of money will be left in your account.
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