Avoid Answering Unknown Phone Calls to Prevent Cybercrime and Digital Arrest: RBI Ombudsman Rajeev Dwivedi

Chandigarh : Bank consumers need to be aware to prevent the increasing incidents of cybercrime and digital arrests. They should avoid answering phone calls from unknown numbers and promptly report such calls to the respective bank. This was stated by RBI Ombudsman Rajeev Dwivedi, who is also the Chief General Manager of the Chandigarh branch of the Reserve Bank of India. He was speaking at a financial awareness program organized by the RBI Ombudsman office in Chandigarh in collaboration with the Chandigarh Press Club for its members. The main objective of this program was to enhance participants’ knowledge of the Reserve Bank Ombudsman scheme and to make them vigilant against fraud in digital transactions. He mentioned that a significant number of victims of this fraud are affluent individuals, including doctors and advocates.

The primary objective of the event was to spread information about Reserve Bank Ombudsman Scheme and to educate them to remain cautious about fraudulent digital transactions. The event was primarily addressed by Shri Rajeev Dwivedi, Reserve Bank Ombudsman Chandigarh.

In the programme, the Ombudsman highlighted the rights as well as responsibilities and duties of the customers of banks and non-banking financial companies. In a more focused manner, the participants were sensitized about do’s and don’ts of safe digital banking. The participants were requested not to carry out financial transactions under the influence of any greed or fear. They were also cautioned to not share OTPs, account / card details, PIN, internet banking passwords, etc. The participants were made aware about the ‘sancharsaarthi’ website (https://www.sancharsaarthi.gov.in) launched by Government of India, as a facility for citizens to report details of suspicious calls / phishing links. The Ombudsman urged participants to use only the official apps, websites and call centre numbers of the service providers. Through small videos, the participants were also made aware about the common ‘modus operandi’ adopted by the fraudsters to cheat the gullible customers of financial sector.  In this regard the participants were also requested to go through ‘BE(A)WARE’, ‘Raju &forty Thieves’ and other booklets available on RBI’s website (https://www.rbi.org.in). The participants were requested that messages received on mobiles like updation of KYC details, disconnection of electricity bill, blocking of sim cards, redemption of reward points in credit cards, job offer through Telegram, etc whether by downloading any link or otherwise should be handled with extreme care. Similarly, any message to the receivers seeking remittance of funds to overseas relatives should be acted upon only after due confirmation. The participants attention was brought to the moto “RBI Kehta Hai.. Jaankar Baniye, Satark Rahiye!”.

The participants were also informed that complaints regarding deficiency in services of banks and non-banking financial services can be filed at https://www.cms.rbi.org.in or can be sent to the Chief General Manager, Central Receipt and Processing Centre, Reserve Bank of India, Central Vista, Sector 17A, Chandigarh -160017 for examination under the Reserve Bank Integrated Ombudsman Scheme 2021 (RBIOS-2021). In the event, apart from officials of Ombudsman’s office, Chandigarh Press Club President, Shri Nalin Acharya, and General Secretary, Shri Umesh Sharma graced the occasion.