Imagine, stranger begs you to use your phone in emergency, next you find your bank account is empty

Cases of scammers using “innovative” ways to rob you of your hard earned money have been on a dramatic upswing.

Banks and institutions have been issuing alerts on how to deal with these frauds.

The latest alert is from CEO of Zerodha, Nithin Kamath warning customers of a gang of scammers trying to empty your bank accounts. Nithin posted a video on his X handle explaining how the scammers function. "Imagine this: A stranger approaches you and asks to use your phone to make an emergency call. Most well-meaning people would probably hand over their phone. But this is a new scam," the billionaire said.

Imagine this: A stranger approaches you and asks to use your phone to make an emergency call. Most well-meaning people would probably hand over their phone. But this is a new scam.

From intercepting your OTPs to draining your bank accounts, scammers can cause serious damage… pic.twitter.com/3OdLdmDWe5

— Nithin Kamath (@Nithin0dha) January 15, 2025

"From intercepting your OTPs to draining your bank accounts, scammers can cause serious damage without you even realizing it," he continued.

The video went on to explain how a scammer, while pretending to use your phone, can install new applications or open existing ones to download your personal information or change your settings so that your calls and messages are shared with their numbers, including alerts from banks. With this information, the scammers have access to your bank account and OTPs and make unauthorised transactions, and can also change your passwords.

The post has lakhs ofviews. Reacting to the video, one user wrote, "I think you should also dub it in Hindi, I want to share it in the family group, but I can’t because it’s in English and they are the ones who really needs to watch this." Another user asked Kamath to translate the video in several Indian languages to maximize its impact.

A user wrote on X, “Feels like UPI and bank link chain grew very faster in India compared to digital security awareness. This can create problems in rural and semi urban areas if people are not familiar with types of scams and with ease of hacking.”