Kathmandu. Looking at the fraud cases, digital scams and emotional scams that have taken place in Nepal on various pretexts, are we really trying to get easy money, or do we lack financial literacy? This question arises. Recently, based on the incidents I have heard and experienced, such incidents have happened very much. A TikTok on social media is very viral, “I have to become last rich in a week. I don’t know how, but I have to be last rich.” As said in this TikTok, are we not losing money in the hope of getting rich soon, due to various temptations?

We may be financially literate, but due to our greed and not being careful, we have been involved in a big financial scam and fraudsters are getting encouraged. They have not reduced the amount of fraud. Every year, various financial institutions, including Nepal Rastra Bank, have been conducting financial literacy programs. I find that the police are also informing the people through their social media and various means to avoid financial frauds, citing various incidents.

Using various social networks like Facebook, WhatsApp, Messenger, Tiktok, etc., you have received a lottery of a large amount of money, you get a message to get emotionally close to you, they communicate so well that you believe everything, become emotionally close, create the illusion that this person has not lied to me, you become emotionally attached, then the game of asking for money begins. In order to get this gift, to get the lottery money you won, or to get the money from the childlessness, they say that you have to pay some tax amount according to the law of this country, they start asking for money from small amounts. , They are checking your financial status, the more money you put in, they add various excuses, sometimes this gift was stopped by the police at the airport, sometimes you should deposit the courier expenses. And the amount of deposit also starts with a small amount in the beginning and gradually increases the size of the amount.

The various measures taken by fraudsters in Nepal in recent times are as follows.

1. The employee of the bank will have to update the KYC of your account, an OTP will come in the mobile, please provide it to me.

2. If you need to update your national ID card, please click on the link below or tell me the OTP on your mobile.

3. Your Connect IPS is blocked. Click on the link below to activate Connect IPS.

4. You have already paid money while shopping online, but the money has not come to my account. Share your screen with me, I will teach you how to get your money back to your account. That is to make a video call from WhatsApp and use the OTV that comes by sharing the screen.

5. I am alone abroad to become friends on Facebook on various pretexts. I have property worth millions, I sell my property and say that I am coming to Nepal to meet you with cash and gold and silver, and make videos of expensive items like iPhone, gold, silver jewelry and other expensive items and send me money to pay tax by using fake DPs of the police who make videos as if they went to the airport without going to the airport saying that I am bringing all this for you. Repeatedly using different accounts to deposit money in the accounts of some other people in Nepal, and now after knowing that this person is not depositing money, block me from connections everywhere and disappear.

6. While buying goods, payment is made from the account of unknown people in the shop, people who come to buy goods will be in legal trouble later due to being a fraud.

7. Play online games: If you win prizes, you will start asking for money to claim the prize, saying that you have to pay tax again.

8. I am in a very difficult situation by hacking your messenger, WhatsApp of your close neighbors, your friends, and other people, now I do not have any mobile banking ATM with me, so I send a request to put money in someone else’s account.

In all these above-mentioned cases, the scammers screen whether they can be scammed or not, and then after they are convinced that they can be scammed, they start cheating by adopting any of the above measures. We have heard and read about cases of fraud not only involving people who lack financial literacy, but also financially literate people as well as employees working in administrative areas, banks and various sectors. Why are none of us untouchable? They are being cheated in the belief that we easily believe.

The main causes of this problem

• Greed: Wanting to make quick money.
• Emotional seduction: Forming an emotional connection with strangers you meet online.
• Lack of information: Not aware that the bank does not ask for OTP or personal details over the phone.
• Carelessness: Trusting a message or link without checking its authenticity.
• Blindly believing that someone else has faked things that we are not doing, which we are not aware of, are the main reasons why we are deceived and cause more financial loss.

How to avoid this type of fraud

1. Know that the bank never calls and asks for OTP, account number, citizenship number. Updating the KYC related to the bank, updating the national identity card, activating Connect IPS if it is blocked, all the work can be done by visiting the nearest branch of the bank.

2. Don’t fall into the temptation of someone you don’t know from an unknown country by showing you that you are getting millions and millions of rupees as a child.

3. Stay away from the illusion that this person is my own, this person has liked me, I have fallen in love with him only on the basis of talking to people online.

4. Be aware that all the videos shown online are real, such as gifts, videos on arrival at the airport, all may be animated or shown to you.

5. Don’t expect gifts from people you don’t know and don’t pay taxes and courier charges to get the gift.

6. Don’t expect to believe that you don’t have a lottery that you don’t pay.

7. Do not click on messages or links received in any medium until you are completely trusted.

8. Do financial transactions only after consulting your close relatives or people you know about matters that you do not know.

9. Keep your ATM card, mobile banking PIN, Connect IPS user ID password, cheque books, citizenship and account numbers securely.

10. OTP is for one’s own use only, if someone calls and asks for it, do not give it.

11. If your friends and friends ask for money by messaging through Messenger, WhatsApp, pay only by talking to friends on the phone when asking for money in an account other than a friend or relative’s account.

Fraudsters can adopt various methods of deception other than those mentioned above, they have no other option but to avoid being cheated. Once you are cheated, it can be very difficult to get the money back, so the best way to avoid being cheated is to avoid being cheated.

If you are scammed, you can go to the nearest district police office with all the details of the fraud and get it investigated.

“Be careful, be aware of fraud, avoid fraud. ‘

-Tulsi Ram Acharya