SBI account holder duped of Rs 6.8 lakh via UPI app: What happened and how can you avoid such frauds

An account holder of the State Bank of India (SBI) has been duped of Rs 6.8 lakh. According to a Times of India report, the resident of Uttar Pradesh's Noida lost more than Rs 6 lakh after the money was transacted seven times from his bank account during the last two months. 

The man has lodged the complaint. The victim does not own a smartphone, hence, did not receive any transaction-related message from the bank. 

The victim allegedly has been defrauded via the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) app. 

The SBI savings account which allegedly targeted by the hackers belongs to Mohan Lal from Sector 12 of Noida. According to him, he found out about the fraud when he visited an ATM on December 4. Upon visiting the SBI branch, he found out that money has been transferred from his account seven times since September 29.

Quoting a cyber cell official, the report said that hackers can easily get unauthorised access to bank accounts using UPI. 

"They can get a duplicate SIM by blocking the original one. After getting the duplicate connection, they can illegally transfer money by using it to register the bank details on the UPI," he explained. 

How you can avoid such frauds? 

To avoid such fraud, users are advised to be extra cautious while making a financial transaction on the internet. Do not click on any dubious links and websites. 

Besides, users should be wary of phone calls asking their bank details or any information related to their bank account. You should know that your bank or any financial institution will never ask for such details via phone call or any other medium.