Among the sea of fraudulent messages that bank customers receive regularly, HDFC customers have been receiving them quite frequently in the past few days. The message generally reads, “HDFC Customer your HDFC NET BANKING will be suspended today. Please update your PAN card now visit below the link.”
Suggested read: Truecaller’s Initiative to Protect its Users in India from Scammers
The conversation
Probably tired and bored of such bogus messages, an HDFC bank customer decided to deal with this issue but in a hilarious way. u/Global-Letterhead-88, a Reddit user and a software engineer by profession, posted receiving a similar spam message.
Instead of falling for the scam by opening it, he decided to give the scammer a taste of his own medicine. Most people would have ignored the message but the software engineer replied saying, “Okay Bhaiya”. to which the scammer replied, “Just now open the link and update your pan No.”
The person replied again saying about how fake the fake website looked and that he could redesign the website exactly like HDFC’s official website for Rs. 20000. As luck would have it, the scammer fell for it quite unassumingly and insisted the techie send samples of his previous work on WhatsApp to take the deal forward.
They continued the discussion for quite some time, during which the techie sent images of fake messages and fake websites claiming to have made them. Impressed by his fake work samples, the scammer wanted to talk over on phone. But at last, the HDFC user decided to put the conversation to rest by citing work.
End of conversation
However, he decided to post the entire conversation online later which left people in splits. For some reason, it feels good to know that the techie did not use any slang or cuss words to scam the scammer and ended the conversation politely. Probably, he felt pity for the ultimate sheer innocence of the criminal.
Be alert
While applauding him for his quick wit, people also raised concern about the increase in such scams. While you and I may not fall for such tricks, at least knowingly, it is important to remain aware. Most importantly make other people aware who may not know about the existence of such scams.
Also read: How to Deal with the Rise in the QR Code Scams?
Banks do not ask for sensitive or confidential data over SMS or through any link. Different banks even circulate this message regularly to their valued customers.
