Learn how to detect fake bank alert scam, It hurts so badly loosing your hard earned money to a fraudster, really hits differently, especially an average Nigerian running a point of sale (POS) business, when they lose their money through fake bank alerts.
They feel like the world is about to end and it’s not just only them that are suffering from this different type of fraud, small businesses at large suffer this.
Here are some key points to note so that you will avoid being becoming a victim of fake bank alerts, The introduction of cashless policy is a good one. Cash-less Nigeria.
What is cashless policy?
Cashless policy is a policy established in the year 2012 by the Central Bank of Nigeria to halt excesses in the handling of cash in the Nigerian federation. It prescribed cash handling charges on daily withdrawal above five hundred thousand Naira (N500,000.00) for individuals and three million Naira for corporate bodies (N3, 000,000.00). The policy was enforced not to eliminate the use of cash but to reduce the volume of cash in circulation.
This is a good policy, but fraudsters have manipulated the good cause to defraud people, and steal their money.
Now, it is general information that people are defrauding with the use of fake bank alerts. The more reason why you need to be educated about this to avoid them making a fool out of you and stealing money that they are not entitled to.
What information do these fraudsters need to send you fake bank alert?
- Your phone number
- Your account number
Without the above information it is impossible for them to send you fake messages if they don’t use FBA program, and when you eventually figure out what they’ve done, it would be impossible to track them.
What is FBA?
FBA is the real software professional hackers use to carry out international scams unlike what those poor scammers in Nigeria use to defraud people working hard to earn a living.
The reason is, they have a dedicated SIM card they use for this evil fraud. They figure out the format that your bank uses to send you credit or debit alerts and copy to send to you.
Popular apps for fake bank alerts
Fake bank alerts don’t just happen. There are certain apps these criminals use for this crime. The following are the top five SMS apps fraudsters use to send fake bank alert in Nigeria.
- Flash Fund App
- Lofty SMS App
- Money Prank Pro
- Millionaire Fake Bank Account
- Pro and fake alert maker for Android.
- FBA
ABOVE LISTED ARE FAKE EXCEPT “FBA”
Note that if they use above apps except FBA, it is easy for any tech savvy person to detect that it is fake alert SMS.
How do you detect fake bank alerts?
What are the red flags to look out for? You may want to skip this part thinking you don’t need it. Only victims understand how important knowing what the red flags are because they have dealt with it first-hand and it must have really hurt to see hard earned money stolen without any trace.
Remember, this could happen to anyone, your relatives, wife, sisters or even parents but to prevent you and your loved ones from falling victim here are the things to look out for.
Check out for misspellings.
They will ask for your account number which is not out of place and also ask for your mobile phone number and that is out of place. That’s a red flag, No one needs your phone number to send you money but the FBA program doesn’t need your phone number or even your account name to send you payment.
Your account balance will not be updated when the credit alert arrives. The real bank alert will show you how much you had before the credit alert and how much you currently have after the credit alert SMS arrives.
Pause, have a rethink of how much was there before, and if it corresponds with the previous amount then you’re on track. If not you might just be about to be scammed. Now how to troubleshoot this situation to ensure the money really came? Check your Mobile banking app and go to transaction history, there will find your recent transactions history and if the person really paid you or sent payment to your bank account it should reflect there.
If you were sent a Mail, check the email source and look out for the official email address of your bank if possible call your bank or check through your mobile banking app.
Check the authenticity of the mobile app used.
Let’s take a further look about how to detect fake bank alert transfer payment.
1. Check your email
Check your email that is linked to your bank – the one that is registered with your bank. If you don’t have an email for bank alerts, then you can open one and link it to your account to help you clear your doubts about such financial transactions that might take place anytime in the future.
With your email, you also get access to your bank statement and your account balance, all in your email.
Make sure to not share your email address with any third-party on any circumstances, your bank will never call you to ask for your email login details or ask you to receive any code for them.
Whenever you receive the suspected bank alert, check your email source.
2. Balance will not be credited
This can be done using your bank USSD code or mobile banking app, you can also check your account balance through internet banking or ATM machine. A fake bank alert will never reflect in your account balance or statement unless the real fake bank alert app is used which is costly and no average Nigerian that can afford it just to use it to carry out such petty scams going about scamming point of sales (POS) operators peanuts, they would rather use it to hunt for high profile rich people.
3. Check the credit alert you received if it contains your available bank
Mere Fake bank alerts will not contain your available balance so you can easily detect the fake alert if your account balance does not reflect along with transfer payment done by your customers/buyers.
4. Avoid clicking on links that request your bank account details or given out your bank information to stranger either via email, phone call or online platform. Be warned and stay safe.
The 7 types of fake alerts that you should know
These seven alerts serve several different purposes and can help you bank better.
- Low balance alert
- Direct deposit alert
- Unusual account activity alert.
- Large purchase alert.
- Large ATM withdrawal alert.
- Debit card alert.
- Profile change alert.
We hope this information will help you detect fake alerts, kindly share to help others stay informed.
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