Alert! Free Covid-19 Testing Offer By SBI May Be A Trap; Here's All You Need To Know

With increasing incidents of online frauds, State Bank of India has alerted the customers and highlighted such types of attacks with examples.

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New Delhi: The pandemic of Coronavirus which emerged from the Hubei province of Wuhan, China in 2019 has spread all over the world resulting in a lockdown in almost every country of the world. With more than 59 million cases around the world, people are scared of getting ill or getting infected. Taking advantage of the situation, cyber hackers and criminals are devising new ways to lure and trap people on the pretext of Covid-19 via emails and messages. In order to prevent its customers from falling for such traps made by cyber criminals, the State Bank of India (SBI) with increasing incidents of online frauds has alerted the customers and highlighted such types of attacks with examples. i. The bank asked the customers to avoid calls in which fraudsters on the pretexts of Covid-19 will be approaching as representatives of government authorities, healthcare workers, or healthcare groups and offer free medical tests or giving fake offers for financial aid. ii. The bank warned the customers as the fraudsters may call or mail asking for donations in the name of Covid-19. iii. SBI also asked its customers not to fall for the fake online stores that resemble a big reputed one but offer products at cheap unreasonable prices. iv. The bank also asked its customers to be cautious in case they receive a mail or a call regarding any free service, lottery, job offers, awarding agency of any reputed company. v. Concerned with the phishing messages and mail, SBI asked its customers not to open any unknown link or attachment received through SMS / Email / Social Media, as they contain malware which is used for getting personal data. vi. SBI strictly asked its customers not to share account details, One Time Passwords (OTP), or anything personal related to the bank account on a phone call or mail and messages with anyone for any purpose. vii. The bank said instead of relying on search engines like  Google for troubleshooting or getting any details of the bank, the customers should use only the authorized SBI website. viii. In case of any fraud, the bank stated that customers should immediately bring the details to the nearest SBI branch or the local police authorities.