In view of increasing incidents of investment frauds, HDFC Bank has advised its customers to be cautious about fraudulent trading platforms that offer investment opportunities, mostly through social media platforms. In cases of investment frauds, fraudsters are seen promising unusually high returns on investments in stocks, IPOs, cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, etc., the private sector bank said in a statement.
“This involves the creation of fake automated investment platforms or apps where victims get to view fake dashboards indicating high returns in investments. Such platforms are also seen promoted on social media inviting people to join these high return investment schemes, which are in fact bogus,” as per the statement.
Fraudsters typically exploit people through social engineering tactics. However, being cautious and transacting only after due diligence, will help safeguard against fraudsters, it added.
Manish Agrawal, Executive Vice President – Credit Intelligence and Control – HDFC Bank, said, “We are seeing an increase in the number of cases of investment frauds and want to help create a wider awareness and knowledge about the issue, so that the consumers can avoid falling prey to these deceptive schemes. While the Government, banks and regulatory bodies are taking steps to curb these frauds, individual vigilance and awareness play a very important role in avoiding falling prey to illegitimate schemes.”
The bank said in the event a person becomes a victim of any online fraud, he/she should immediately report the unauthorised transactions to the bank in order to get the payment channel blocked — Cards/UPI/Net banking — to safeguard against future losses.
Further, customers should also file a complaint by calling the 1930 helpline number started by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) as well as submit a complaint on National Cybercrime Reporting Portal.