Reward Points Scam Awareness
Safeguard yourself against Reward Points Scam

Credit Card usage is popular not only for the ease and convenience it provides, but also due to various offers, discounts and reward points offered by banks. While reward points or loyalty points provide users with monetary benefits, they are being used as a bait to lure customers on the pretext of offering them additional reward points or redeeming their existing reward points using the below:

• Vishing calls:: Phone calls made by fraudsters pretending to represent the bank or any reputed company, in order to trick customers into sharing their credentials and OTP.
• Phishing links:: Spoofed emails and/or SMS, designed to dupe customers into thinking the communication originated from their bank or service provider, but contains links to extract confidential details.
• Toll-free number spoofing and fake customer care numbers:: Displayed on webpages / social media & via search engines, etc. they are used to tricking customers into calling the fraudsters themselves and divulging their sensitive credentials.
• Remote access applications: Convincing customers to download an application on their phone / computer that can view / access data on the customer’s device.

Using the above methods, the fraudsters will:

• Misuse the card credentials & OTP shared by victims to perpetrate the fraud
• Use the screen sharing or remote access app to access login credentials & OTP and misuse the customer’s card at their convenience
• Convince, trick or mislead the victim into making a payment to the fraudster themselves

How can you protect yourself?

• Do not respond to unsolicited calls or share any personal details / card credentials & passwords / OTP / PIN / CVV with anyone
• If anything sounds too good to be true, take a pause and think before you respond or react
• Always use your bank’s official website for checking your reward points balance and redeeming the same or contact your bank’s official helpline numbers directly