KARACHI:
Financial scams related to banking and payment applications have aggravated during the recent years. I too was close to becoming a victim of such a fraud. I received a call and the person on the other end began talking. He said that he had transferred some funds to me by mistake. Upon asking a few questions, he got rather emotional, claiming that it was his hard-earned money and that he would appreciate it if I sent it back to him. What was peculiar, however, was the fact that the person asked for a one-time pin (OPT) number which I had received during the call. This was an immediate red flag for me because the message clearly stated that I should not share my OTP with anyone.
I hung up on him immediately and called the Bank’s helpline. The representative then informed me that I could have fallen victim to a common scamming technique had I shared my OTP with the caller. I urge everyone to stay alert and protect their information no matter what.
Ammar Muzaffar
Karachi
Published in The Express Tribune, July 16th, 2021.
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