Beware! Reserve Bank of India cautions about Fake Websites in its name

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued a notice to citizens cautioning against a fake website which is reportedly asking for personal and confidential banking details of bank customers posing as the 'Central Bank'.

The fake website which has similar layout as the RBI website contains a provision called "Bank verification with online account holders" which appears to have been created with a fraudulent intent, an RBI said.

"It has come to the notice of the Reserve Bank of India that a fake website of the Reserve Bank of India has been created with the URL www.indiareserveban.org by some unknown person(s)," RBI said.

RBI has clarified that as India's central bank, it does not hold any accounts for individuals and never asks for personal information such as bank account details, passwords, etc.

In recent years, the RBI has warned citizens of frauds perpetrated in its name such as fake credit cards issued by fraudsters or a mobile app in 2015 which claimed to facilitate checking of balance in customers' bank accounts. The application had an RBI logo with the title 'All Bank Balance Enquiry No' and had listed several banks with either a mobile number or call centre number.

"The Reserve Bank cautions members of public that responding online on such websites could result in compromising crucial personal information that may be misused to cause financial and other loss to them," RBI said.

The apex bank further cautioned members of public about existence of websites such as www.rbi.org, www.rbi.in etc. These URLs may appear similar to the website of RBI. However, these websites have no affiliation with the Reserve Bank of India. Members of public are advised to be cautious while accessing or when providing any information on such sites.

(Agencies)

Featured image(courtesy): PTI