Telephone banking scams have become more common nowadays, with the introduction of on line banking. Fraudsters will try anything and everything to get into our personal bank accounts and get their hands on our hard earned cash.
Here are a few ways to be telephone banking smart and try to beat those fraudsters:
1. Never give out personal information like a secret pin or code to a telephone banking consultant. This can be extremely dangerous and you could have all your money taken out of your bank account.
2. Beware of telephone calls from your bank demanding information like date of birth, residential address, and particulars of your banking details. Banks generally never phone clients and demand this type of information.
3. When you phone your bank for queries there is generally or should be an automated response that processes your personal information. The response will ask for a few digits of your personal banking pin ,date of birth and account number.
4. Never give out more information than is possible even if the consultant is genuine. It is okay to have a friendly conversation, but never ever over do it.
5. Never give out personal details aloud . This can lead to other people in the room coming to know things that should be kept secret. Never do telephone banking in a public place full of strangers or in a telephone booth. Telephone banking should be done in private area which is your home or personal office space. Fraudsters easily pick up on these details, and some people can be involved in syndicates which kidnap people and demand that they phone their bank and withdraw their funds.
6. Use the telephone number that your bank gives you, and this should be a costumer care number. Never, ever use different numbers as you will be transferred to a different department, and fraudsters could prey on your money.
7. If you suspect someone is using your information and there is something fishy going on with your bank account go directly to your branch and sort it out. Telephone banking consultants always give a reference number after a call is logged. Take down this reference together with the name of the consultant you had spoken to. Use this information if there is a problem.
Telephone banking has made our lives easier, but it also poses many risks. All we can do is be alert and vigilant.