A new credit card fraud is in the works where scammers are posing as employees of the State Bank of India, asking unsuspecting customers to avail an offer to increase their credit limits. A Reddit user with the ID Fresh_Journalist5116 flagged the new scam, saying that his father almost fell for it.
According to the Reddit user, the scammer posed as an SBI employee and told their father that he could increase his credit limit and remove the annual fee.
“Somebody tried to scam my father with this fake website. Told him he can increase his credit card limit and also remove that annual fee that is charged on the credit card. He almost fell for it. But in the end I stopped him from entering the credit card details,” the user wrote.
The scammer forwarded a link to the customer for a supposed e-KYC update. However, upon checking the link carefully, the Reddit user grew suspicious as it did not seem legitimate. The URL had a wixsite.com at its end, suggesting it was likely built on WIX, a website builder.
The user’s suspicions were deepened when they saw that there were a lot of spelling errors on some pages of the website.
“I checked that website and it seemed fake. Starting with that WIX site ad on top and the URL also had wixsite.com at the end, which means he probably built it on WIX. Also there were spelling mistakes on the next pages like “Expari date” and “Intar OTP”,” the Reddit user said.
The attempted credit card scam also included the scammer sending his fake ID to make it look like he was an SBI employee, but there were discrepancies in his office address.
“He even sent his fake ID to make it seem like he is a legitimate employee. The address Mumbai Bandara made some alarm bells ring but other than that everything seemed ok with it. Except maybe this isn’t how actual SBI employee ID look like in the first place,” the user said.
The scammer also allegedly used different phone numbers for calling, WhatsApp and in the ID.
Spelling mistakes deliberate?
The Reddit post on the credit card scam has since gained traction, with many commenting that the scammers made a deliberate move with the spelling mistakes, in order to filter out the educated.
“They keep the typos like Expari, Intar etc just to filter out the slightest of literates. Only the foolish of foolish will fall for these. But, sad to say many people in this country come in that category,” one user said.
“Don’t remember where, but I have read somewhere that apparently these spelling mistakes are intentional, to filter out people who are not going to be scammed,” another added.
Credit card scams have become rampant in India. To counter the frauds, the Reserve Bank of India (SBI) along with several other banks have asked customers to remain vigilant.