All of us use OTP for online transactions. Do you read the message that comes with the OTP number? Most don’t. We are in a hurry. We just need the number to complete the transaction. These days, phones have an option to display the OTP as soon as it arrives as a text message or email. No need to punch them into the app. Makes life easy.
There’s an inherent danger to that convenience. You don’t know what the OTP is for, because you haven’t read the SMS or the email. Because you were waiting for the OTP, and it arrived. What if it was for a bigger amount than your intended payment. Possible, isn’t it?
That’s what happened to Josephine (name changed on request). She was recharging her phone credit for Dh20 using her credit card. The OTP arrived, she promptly entered the digits, and the transaction was processed. A little later, when she checked the SMS from the bank, Josephine was shocked to find that she had been charged Dh20,220 by another entity. It was not the telecom provider but an entity posing as a government department.
How fraudsters prey on us
The standard procedure followed. Credit card blocked. A complaint was registered with the bank. Will Josephine get back her money? Her hard-earned money was swiped by an unscrupulous fraudster. A momentary lapse in concentration has led to so much trauma and anxiety.
What could have been done to prevent this cyber theft? A bit of mindfulness would have helped. All of us are distracted at times. We are vulnerable in such moments, making us prone to silly mistakes. That’s when fraudsters strike. Even the most guarded person can fall prey in such moments.
Josephine was one. Usually a careful person, in her haste to make an urgent phone call, she must have overlooked the amount on the OTP. I suspect she might have been on a phoney website. The only thing that could have saved her is the OTP.
Make it a practice to be very careful every time you make an online transaction. Don’t be distracted.
OTP, the one-time passcode, offers protection during online transactions. Every time you make an online payment, the bank needs the OTP to process the payment. It’s your consent to proceed with the payment. You have to be careful with consent, which is why it’s important to read the OTP message before punching the digits.
Online fraud is rampant worldwide, and fraudsters could be sitting several thousand kilometres away, in another country or continent, waiting for us to slip up. A silly error, and they vanish into cyberspace with our money. Our blood, sweat and toil. Why would we part with it?
Banks and financial institutions are well aware of internet-savvy criminals. This is why they repeatedly run awareness campaigns and remind us every month to be vigilant against cyber criminals. We have to follow their expert advice.
Make it a practice to be very careful every time you make an online transaction. Don’t be distracted. Everything can wait till you finish the transaction.
Here are a few tips for safe online transactions.
- Check for the “https” prefix before the website URLs or links; they are generally safe, as evident from the lock symbol.
- Read everything on the website before you enter credit card data. Ensure the name of the company on the URL/link is correct. Fraudulent sites tend to have spelling mistakes.
- The website’s name and the name on the URL/link could be different; that’s a giveaway. But some fraudsters are ingenious; just one letter could be different, and that’s very difficult to spot.
- Check the OTP message thoroughly. Ensure the OTP prefix on the site and the SMS are the same. More importantly, ensure the amount is the same.
It pays to be cautious. After all, it’s our money. Crooks don’t deserve it.
