What is a Phishing?

Phishing is an e-mail-borne fraudulent attempt to obtain confidential information from the recipient such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details by disguising oneself as a reliable entity or downloading malware by clicking on a hyperlink in the message.

Scammers impersonate legitimate organisations (banks, government agencies) through emails, SMS, or phone calls, contact people, and trick them into revealing personal information or clicking on a phishing website that steals financial data. They are typically looking for login credentials, credit card numbers, bank information, or other sensitive data. The link provided by them may use misspelled URLs of the legitimate organization or subdomains to deceive the user. Once the scammer has the information, they can hack into the account and steal money.

For individuals, phishing can lead to unauthorized purchases, the stealing of funds, or identity theft. For organizations, phishing can lead to severe financial losses, declining market share, reputation, and consumer trust.

To protect yourself from phishing, you can:

Check the destination of a link before moving your mouse over it.

Run antivirus or security scan software on your devices.

Save important files on an external storage device.

Consider performing a factory reset of your device.

Report the incident to the appropriate authorities.

Reporting of Cyber Crime incidents/Unauthorised Transactions:

The customer should report the incident to his home branch so that necessary action may be initiated by the home branch regarding stop/hold/raising charge back for the reported transaction.

Simultaneously, the customer has to report to cyber police for investigation.

For online complaint registrations with cyber police: https://www.cybercrime.gov.in/

The National Cybercrime Helpline number in India is 1930. You can call this number to report financial cyber-crimes involving digital banking, credit and debit cards, payment intermediaries, and UPI. After filing a complaint by phone, you can complete it online at the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) website.

Note: Complainants, who registered a complaint using the “Report & Track” option on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal, may contact the respective State/UT Nodal Officer or Grievance Officer if the response is inappropriate.

Note: Phishing is a punishable offence under Section 43 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 with a penalty up to Rs. 1 Crore.

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