Bharti Airtel CEO Vittal Warns Subscribers Against Cyber Frauds

Bharti Airtel CEO (India, South Asia) Gopal Vittal has warned the telco's subscribers against increased number of cyber frauds in the country.

Vittal's Word of Caution to Bharti Airtel Users

Vittal pointed out two major types of frauds ongoing in the country at the moment. First, where a customer installs an app that allows a third party to track all accounts on the device. Also, Vittal further warned against frauds related to digital payments. In such frauds, a fraudster gains access to a subscriber's OTP and UPI details to make unauthorized transactions.

On Thursday, in a letter to the subscribers, Vittal said, "With the growing second wave of the pandemic and lock downs in various parts of the country, there has been a massive increase in online transactions. Unfortunately, there has also been a corresponding increase in Cyber fraud".

Vittal highlighted two ways in which the frauds are happening in his latest letter.

First, fraudsters pretending to be Airtel employees call or SMS the subscriber saying their KYC is incomplete. The customer is asked to install the "Airtel Quick Support” app from Google Play Store, which is not an app from the telco. However, the customer is redirected to TeamViewer Quicksupport app as soon as they run this app. This app allows the fraudster to take over the device remotely. "And so, if the customer does install it, they allow the fraudster into all their accounts connected to the device," the CEO said. This compromises all the accounts in the device as the fraudster can then do as they please.

Also, fraudsters are calling up with promises of highly-discounted VIP numbers. For the number, they ask for a prepayment as a token/booking amount. When an unsuspecting customer sends the amount, the fraudster then becomes untraceable. Vittal also clarified on this, saying that the telco does not sell VIP numbers over a call.

Digital payments are also quickly becoming a playground for fraudsters, Vittal pointed out. These people usually ask for OTPs or UPI details via SMS or calls. As such, Vittal recommended the Airtel Safe Pay feature in the Airtel Payments Bank. In the payment method, while making transactions the option requires the customer to reconfirm their transactions.