Behavioural biases that damage your investments!

With more and more people adopting digital and online transactions, the fraudsters’ mill is working overtime, robbing citizens of their hard-earned money.

According to Reserve Bank of India data, the total number of frauds reported by scheduled commercial banks and select financial institutes during financial year 2020 is 84,545 and the amount involved is about Rs 1,86 lakh crore.

The data revealed that the highest number of complaints regarding fraud were received from State Bank of India customers — as high as 63,259.

HDFC Bank was second with 18,764 complaints while ICICI Bank occupied the third slot with 14,582 complaints of frauds.

Public sector bank Punjab National Bank was fifth with 12,469 complaints followed by Axis Bank with 12,214.

The figures for FY21 are still not available with RBI.

9-point precautions

The country’s largest lender SBI has already issued multiple advisories to its customers on social media. SBI stated that during the pandemic, fraudsters are exploring newer and newer avenues on swindling people.

It is advisable to keep these 9 points in mind while operating a SBI account.

— Do not share any personal credentials like date of birth, phone number or even mother’s maiden name.

— Never share any banking details such as debit card number, internet banking and mobile banking user id/password, CVV, OTP or any other credentials to any person including bank officials.

— Do not reply to any call or share any data if anybody asked that he is calling from SBI (or even RBI).

— Do not download any mobile app based on telephone calls or emails from unknown persons or source.

— Avoid clicking to any link of SMS or mail telling that you have received a huge amount as gift or prize.

— Do not respond to any call or message claiming that you have been rewarded by big companies.

— Do not download and install third-party apps such as Screenshare, Anydesk, Teamviewer etc in the same device.

— Enable your phone’s security features and keep them updated—this is the first line of defence between your information and hackers.

— Never ever use public WiFi for money transfer, use safe and secure trusted network of your home.

Way forward

“In FY20 total amount of bank fraud stood at Rs 1.85 lakh crore. And it might cross Rs 2 lakh crore in FY21 once the data have been released by RBI. It is almost like a parallel economy that is running in the country. The duty of the banks is goes beyond floating social media posts, they have to make technology more strong and security system should be more active. Else customers have to suffer,” said Bivas Chakraborty, a cyber law expert.

Experts admit that the bank customers are more aware now. The awareness campaigns by banks won’t mean much unless common people learn to guard their own money.