Bengaluru Entrepreneur Warns About New SMS Scam; Here's How She Averted The Trap

Online financial scams have become quite rampant. Individuals have started to use UPI and other forms of digital financial services for ease of transactions, saving them a trip to the bank. While it is convenient, this can also lead to various scams if you are not cautious. Recently, Aditi Chopra, a Bengaluru-based businesswoman, shared about a complex financial scam. She almost fell prey to a well laid out fraud that simply employs smartly designed SMS to cause confusion and, eventually, take money.

Aditi posted her story on X to raise awareness about the new scam. She expressed, “Another day, another financial fraud scheme. TLDR: Please read and make sure you don’t trust any SMSes regarding financial transactions.” Aditi Chopra revealed that she was in an office call when someone contacted her and said he needed to send money to her father, but because there was a problem with his bank account, he requested him to wire it to her. He then read aloud her 10-digit mobile number. Once verified, she saw a SMS pop up on her phone.

She wrote, “I first received an SMS mentioning an INR 10k credit, then an INR 30k credit, all while he’s on the call. Then, he suddenly gets all worked up and was like, ‘beta, mujhe toh INR 3k hi bhejne the par galti se 30k bhej diye, pls aap baaki paise wapas bhejde mai doctor sahaab ke yaha khada hu, unko dena hai paise’.”

Aditi stated that he created urgency by announcing that he had sent extra money, was at the doctor’s door and sending UPI IDs to return the remaining amount, and so on. She mentioned that this was where the scam started. Aditi explained, “One could falter and give in but Ik my dad, he over explains everything and triple checks in matters of money, whatever be the amount lol. He would have called beforehand and given me more context than needed.” Further, she stated that the SMS received on her phone were from an unknown number instead of an official bank ID.

Lastly, she stated, “Ofcourse when I called back in a minute’s time after checking my accounts, I was blocked. TLDR; Always check your actual bank account on a separate device and never go by any SMSes. That system is very easily gameable.” She further revealed the number in her post and shared a screenshot of the messages she had received.