New Delhi: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued new guidelines to prevent financial fraud. RBI has directed banks and other financial institutions to call customers only from two prescribed numbers. This step has been taken in view of the increasing fraud cases related to online and phone banking.
What are the RBI guidelines?
RBI has directed banks to use only two authorized numbers to communicate with customers. These numbers will be toll-free and will be registered for easy identification. The purpose of these numbers is to ensure customers that the call is coming from the bank itself and not from any fake or unauthorized source.
Focus on customer safety
RBI clarified that these guidelines have been made to protect the financial information of customers and their privacy. The main objectives of this initiative are:
- Preventing Financial Fraud: Protecting customers from fake calls and scams.
- Increasing customer awareness: Banks will inform customers about these authorized numbers.
- Making digital transactions secure: Bringing transparency in phone banking and online transactions.
Increasing fraud cases
Cases of phishing calls and bank fraud have increased in recent years. Fraudsters call customers posing as bank officials and obtain their confidential information, such as OTP, card number and PIN etc. This step of RBI is expected to reduce these incidents.
RBI advice
- Customers should not share any information on calls received from unknown numbers.
- Trust only authorized numbers for banking calls.
- Immediately report any suspicious call or transaction to the bank and cyber cell.
responsibility of banks
RBI has asked banks to ensure that they provide comprehensive information to customers about this initiative. For this, banks have been instructed to run awareness campaigns through SMS, email and social media.
