Recently, a shocking incident came to light where a man – soon after losing his mobile phone to snatching – lost ₹42,000 via UPI. Although he claimed that he didn’t save any passwords in his mobile phone, and the loss of money perhaps took place on account of hacking, yet the concerns that stem from this incident are wide-ranging and frightening.
This is seen as a growing practice of pick-pockets who happen to hack the stolen mobile phones in order to steal the data for carrying out frauds.
Losing a mobile phone is undoubtedly a massive loss in itself when the phone prices of premium mobiles are upward of ₹70-80 K. Losing money via Unified Payments Interface (UPI) besides a mobile phone is nothing short of a double whammy.
Here, we list out some key points to prevent common people from losing money to such untoward frauds and hacking.
These are the points to consider:
Notsaving passwords: Needless to say, still we say here that one should never save passwords in the mobile phone. One should make sure that the apps — that enable access to financial data — are password protected. One should refrain from saving passwords of your net banking on your google account.
Mobile password: The financial data should be double protected via passwords. The first one is the mobile password that prevents a stranger from entering the mobile phone applications, and the second password enables them to carry out transactions.
Blocking UPI: In case your mobile phone is lost, you should not wait before getting your UPI account blocked by calling the customer care. This can be done by placing a call from another phone that you might be carrying in your bag.
Number of apps with financial data: There is no use of using more than one UPI app. Keeping only one app is fine, and if possible – one should keep a little money – say ₹10,000, in the mobile wallet, and carry out transactions from here.
This way, in case your mobile phone or UPI app is compromised, the money at stake would be small.
Opt for the best one: There are a number of UPI apps. Some of them are not very safe and from time to time, the RBI has been cracking down on them. So, it is best to check the reviews of these apps before opting for them.
For instance, Bank of Baroda is currently prevented from onboarding further customers on its app – ‘Bob World’ because of a range of supervisory concerns. And until these concerns are addressed, the state lender is prevented from bringing new customers on board on its app.
