HDFC Bank has issued a warning to its customers to be cautious of fraudulent messages regarding KYC updates or PAN updates. Several bank customers have reportedly received messages from random numbers stating that their account will be closed if they do not update their KYC details. The message contains a link that customers are asked to click on to update their information. However, the bank has urged customers to be wary of links that do not appear genuine, and to always check the source and whether the link is framed properly.

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The bank has also advised customers to always log in to a site by typing the proper URL in the address bar, and to share their user ID and password only at the authenticated login page. Before providing user ID and password, customers are urged to ensure that the URL of the login page starts with the text ‘https://’ and is not ‘https://’. The ‘s’ stands for ‘secured’ and indicates that the web page uses encryption.

In addition, customers are advised to give personal details over the phone/internet only if they have initiated a call or session and the counterpart has been duly authenticated by them. It is also better to check bank, credit and debit card statements to ensure that all transactions are legitimate.

The warning comes after several customers complained about receiving fake text messages claiming that their accounts will be blocked or suspended if they do not update their Permanent Account Number (PAN). One such message received by a customer read, “Dear customers HDFC Bank account will be suspended today please click here to link and update your pan no immediately.”

In response, HDFC Bank has urged customers to protect themselves from fraudsters by always checking that messages from HDFC Bank come from the official ID HDFCBK/HDFCBN and links start with hdfcbk.io. The bank has also advised customers to immediately report any suspicious messages or transactions to their bank.

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