If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is

Now that I have your attention, I need you to consider this statement for a moment. How frequently in your life have you come across a situation and thought to yourself “WOW, is this even real!”

If your answer is YES (and I thought as much), is it because you think the grass is greener on the other side of the fence? Or is it since you have never had that sort of an opportunity ever knocking at your door?

Whatever the case might be, remember not all things are as it appears to be. “You can’t get something for doing nothing.

It takes “two to tango” and thus we (Yes! you included) ought to be careful before deciding on the various “opportunities” for you to seek after as the objective behind many malicious emails is to simply deceive you into sharing your private, personal information or classified business info/data to which you have access to. These fraudsters would stop at nothing and may use social media sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, spoof a website of a bank or similar, Internet search engines and other publicly available resources to identify individuals with likely access to valuable information.

Remember, It’s never too late to avoid falling into a trap laid by these fraudsters who utilize such information to compose an email that spoofs a generally legitimate sender, for example a bank, insurance company, ISP (Internet service provider), a business partner or anything that looks legitimate.  Emails such as these are commonly referred to as “phishing email” or “spoof email”.

Stephen Hawking rightly said “One is always a long way from solving a problem until one actually has the answer” and we at MobiKwik would like to share some of the precautionary steps you could take to avoid a disaster or a financial loss of any kind for the technology might be new, but the tricks are old and still play upon the known and age-old weakness in human: our trust.

 

Examples of phishing e-mails

 Fraudsters today are getting more and more inventive and are using new methods of communications. Examples of several such cases are shared below for your reference, however, please note, that this is not a complete overview.

Have you come across these?

 

How to spot these ?

1. Have you received a threat or something similar where the email indicates that your account would be closed/suspended/terminated if you didn’t respond to an email message or click a certain link or provide certain information?
2. Avoid clickinga link if you see a link in a an email message which is suspicious.
3. Suddenly you are a WINNER? Be careful of these emails.
4. Communication is so positive that it is hard to believe.
5. Kuch paane ke liye kuch dena padta hai? Email asking you to Pay or Send a fee first to be elgible for a Prize or get something in return ?
6. Urging you to share or send your personal, confidential or bank information like logins, password, OTP, Card Number etc.
7. Too many spelling errors in the e-mail.
8. Asking to open an attachment as it contains details of something very IMPORTANT? Savdhaan !
9. URLs that resemble those of well-known companies but looks a little different from what it should be.
10. Email urges you to change your username and password or enter other confidential information in a form or a site to which a link may be diverted to.

 

Our recommendations

1. BE CAREFUL! You know it’s a fake when there is a promise of a fabulous prize or easy money! Don’t fall for it.
2. Do not respond to suspicious e-mails if you do not know the sender.
3. Do not open any attached files, probably this is a virus. Opening the attachment could cause infecting the device.
4. Do not send anyone your personal details, bank details or passwords. Banks and MobiKwik DO NOT call, email or ask you for this information. We would like you to keep those a secret: p
5. Please do not click a link in a suspicious message
6. Monitor your transactions regularly to spot any irregular ones or which you do not recognise.
7. Do not share your confidential information on social media sites.

 

Hope this was helpful. Keep watching this space for more… Until then…. be safe.

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