10 Ways to protect yourself from bank fraud

Online banking has become the cornerstone of the overall banking experience. The increase in digitisation has not only increased online banking transactions but it has also increased the instances of financial frauds online. From phishing scams to OTP scams, fraudsters are always on a lookout for new ways to dupe innocent users. While this scenario isn’t likely to change anytime soon, there are ways, rather precautions you can take to ensure that scammers don’t defraud you.

Here we have a comprehensive guide for you that will help you in protecting yourself from banking frauds. Take a peek:

1. Use a strong password and a password manager: Always use a complex and hard-to-guess password that is mix of numbers, letters and special characters. And use a different password for different accounts. Consider using a password manager for creating and remembering complex passwords.

2. Use 2FA: Two-factor authentication is one of the easiest ways to increase protection on your account. Supplement your password with an OTP or authentication app or biometrics.

3. Scrutinise your emails: Emails are often used in phishing scams for duping users. Don’t click on attchments form emails you don’t recognise or seem suspicious. Also, don’t share your personal and financial data with anyone.

4. Be skeptical about calls and messages: In addition to emails, scammers also use calls and messages to dupe users into divulging their personal information. Don’t share any information — personal, financial, OTP etc with anyone.

5. Avoid using Public Wi-Fi: Don’t use public Wi-Fis for making financial transactions. These networks are insecure and they can always be used by scammers for reading your data as you perform transactions.

6. Use VPN: VPNs or Virtual Private Networks are one way you can use to safeguard your data even if you are connecting your device to a public network.

7. Update your device: Download software updates for devices and app updates as soon as they are made available. You can also set these updates to auto-download to ensure that all the bugs are fixed as soon as a patch is available.

8. Set transaction alert: Use transaction alerts to keep a track of every transaction you perform. This makes it easier to detect instances of frauds.

9. Protect your personal information: Don’t use part of your personal information such as your email ID, phone number, birthday and Aadhaar number.

10. Double check banking apps and website: Double check banking websites and apps before using. Scammers often disguise fraudulent apps and websites as the authentic ones to dupe users.