Jumped Deposit Scam: As the world is moving towards digitalization, various methods of online fraud have also started emerging. Often, to avoid these, it is advised not to share your OTP with any stranger or give your bank details or click on any link indiscriminately. But now a trick is being adopted in which your bank account can become empty even without sharing OTP or downloading any app. Cyber criminals have now come up with a new method which is being called Jumped Deposit. In this, your honesty is being taken advantage of to cheat you.
What is Jumped Deposit?
Imagine, suddenly a message comes on your phone that Rs 5,000 has been deposited in your bank account. Meanwhile you get a call or message saying, “Sir, money has been transferred to your account by mistake, please check.” It is from here that scammers start laying their net. Fraudsters send you a link and ask you to click on it to check your balance or refund the money. As soon as you click on the link, it takes you directly to your UPI app (like Google Pay or PhonePe). As soon as you enter your UPI PIN to check balance, instead of getting Rs 5,000 back, Rs 50,000 or more is deducted from your account.
Taking advantage of reversal request
Cyber wings of Tamil Nadu and Cyberabad have detected this fraud, in which criminals use reversal request. According to the rules of National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), if money is transferred to someone by mistake, a request can be made to get it back. Taking advantage of this, criminals generate reversal requests for a huge amount and hide it behind a normal balance check link. They know that as soon as the user sees the message of money being credited to their account, they will immediately try to check their balance and as soon as you enter your PIN, you unknowingly approve the reversal request for that huge amount.
How to take precautions?
- To avoid this scam, even if money is credited to your account, do not panic or do anything hasty.
- If any message comes, do not open your UPI app for the next 30 minutes. Due to this, the time limit of reversal request will be exceeded and the link will become invalid.
- Never use the link sent by someone else to check your balance. Always check your balance directly through the app.
- Even if you open the app by mistake and you are suspicious, do not enter your PIN.
- If someone claims that money has been transferred to your account by mistake, ask them to contact the bank and lodge a complaint. Let the money be returned only through the correct bank process.
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