Precautions in Cashless Transactions
ACCOUNTS
Make two Bank Accounts
Primary account and Secondary account
Keep all your money in Primary and never use it for online transactions
Never use Primary Debit card anywhere
Use the Secondary account for all the spending and withdrawing money from ATM. Transfer money from Primary account when needed and keep blanace under Rs:10,000/-
CARDS
1 - Use Credit Card as much as possible
So that the liability is on banks. Debit cards means your money is gone.
In credit card payments banks can delay or revert the fraudulent payment but not in case of debit card payment. So credit card is safer choice for transactions
If you aren't earning a handsome salary or have bad credit score just put an FD on 25,000/- and get a Credit Card against it. Never ever use your Debit Card for online shopping or at POS terminals
2 - Get a safer chip based card
A duplicate copy of magnetic cards can be made in minutes, chip based cards cannot be copied easily.
3 - Never let your cards out of your sight
When paying bills at some restaurant, ask them to bring the POS machine to you or you yourself go to the machine. Also grab that receipt, check and tear.
4 - Always hide the keypad
Those devices that you swipe that card have walls to hide your fingers so that no one can see what you are typing, that is not adequate, cover the top of your hand as well.
Don not punch in the numbers by making a fist and taking the index fingers out. Instead, type like a person playing the piano, i.e.,: all four fingers resting or hovering over the keypad.
ATM
1 - Always go and inspect the ATM thoroughly
It hardly takes 15-20 seconds to ensure there's no skimmer in the slot, no camera of device watching your pin etc. The people behind you can wait.
2 - Always tear up ATM receipts into pieces before you throw into the dustbin
3 - Never display or show off with the money you just got from ATM
When the machine gives you cash, count and put that cash inside your wallet or purse while being in the ATM itself, do not do so while coming our of the ATM or outside.
PHONES AND COMPUTERS
1 - Only install apps from official stores like Google play store or Apple store
Do not use pirated apps on your phone, it could be infected with adwares and spywares
2 - Always update your browsers, apps and antivirus definitions on your computer
3 - Always check for HTTPS in your browser when making online transactions
4 - Never click on links that arrive in text messages, emails, WhatsApp
Some of them run scripts and can send all your info to the hacker
If a friend sends you link to check out something on Flipkart, better go and search that thing yourself instead of clicking the link
5 - Never use any device other than your personal device to access your account
You will often find people suggesting you not to use public computer systems to access your accouts, but whenever I see any of my relatives' or sometimes friends' systems, they tend to have some sort of malware or unwanted but suspicious browser extensions installed
You cannot be sure how technically sound your relatives/friends are in protecting their computers, so best to avoid their devices for banking transactions
6 - Use two-factor authentication if your bank provides that option
Make sure your phone is locked and SMS that you get aren't visible on the locked screen. If you dont not take care of this part, having a two-factor authentication kind of loses it's purpose, since gaining access to your unlocked phone pretty much gives someone access to your email ID (to reset password) and SMS (for two-factor authentication).
PASSWORDS
1 - Change your netbanking password, ATM pin regularly (3-months)
2 - Never reuse banking passwords in other sites
Always have separate banking passwords for all accounts and make sure they are not even similar
If you are the kind of person who cannto remember passwords, write down password hints for yourself such that only you can figure out what the password is from that hint. This means you cannot use passwords hints like "son's name + wife's DOB".
3 - Use Keepass password manager if you are tech savvy
Otherwise write your passwords on a paper and keep it very very safe
OTHERS
1 - Stop giving out your phone number and email ID
Do not register you phone numbers at places where it's not needed.
Online offers that look too good to be true like '50 lucky registered winners will get free iPhone 7' actually are too good to be ture.
Shopper's stop or Reliance fresh asking you for your phone number during checkout ? Dont give it to them! Your number ends up in their spamming database. And if any of these numbers end up in the hands of a company that specializes in scamming, that can land you in trouble.
I've gotten calls from people multiple times claiming they are calling from my bank (they knew my bank name, my phone number and my name, so I would suspect they were who they claimed they were). But then they ask you to verify yourself by telling you you address and other details. Slowly they will make their way to your debit card number.
Do not give out such sensitive details to anyone on phone, even if they claim they're from your bank, no matter how genuine they sound
2 - Dont share you email ID, birth date on social media. If you have FB, then hide them
3 - Unlist from TrueCaller https://www.truecaller.com/unlist
How exactly does Trecaller help the scammers you ask ?
They get your Phone Number from someplace
They get your Name from TrueCaller
Then they Internet Search your name, get your info like DOB, PAN
With this information they get duplictae sims from your cellphone provider and Reset your passwords
4 - Always be safe with money
There are people inside a bank, one that marks other people taking out money, other, that's outside and puts a game on you
these guys are pro's, if they've targeted you, then chances are there's a very good reason for it. They see you are weakling and either steal or dacoit, that is wht they will do. Rare, but still happens
A young bodied guy is less likely to get duped, but your mom, aunt, grandma/pa is a bull's eye for them thieves. Accompany them if you can. Money is a strange thing, and people will do anything to have more of it