You received a credit alert! Great news, right? Is it?
SMS messages have become a very useful and easy tool for individuals to check their credit. You get notifications or alerts of crucial changes made to your bank account. This occurs as soon as transactions take place. But as is often said, nothing good lasts forever.
Fraudsters and con men out there wasted no time putting their heads to work for dubious purposes. They have turned this tool made to inform, into a tool to defraud and swindle. Every day many naive, unsuspecting persons fall victim to Fake bank alert scams.
Hence, to protect you, we have drawn up a list of things to help you spot a fake or a real bank credit alert from UBA.
Below are some things to watch out for when you receive a UBA credit alert.
UBA Bank Credit Alert Pointers
01. Legible Sender ID:
Always check the Sender ID(Sender identification). It is impossible to receive a valid UBA credit alert from a personal number having no credible Sender ID. The Sender ID for UBA bank is “UBA”. Though most of these scammers can copy the Sender ID word for word, some make mistakes. So, if you see something else added to the name it's fake.
02. Message Thread:
The credit alert you receive should fall into the same message box as previous messages you’ve gotten from your bank. If it doesn’t then you can be sure it’s from a different sender and a scam. Make sure you always open your alert notification to check the thread.
03. Credit Alert Format:
All banks are different. Thus their credit alert formats will have significant differences as well. This is the UBA credit alert format;
- Transaction - ‘Txn:’
- Account number - ‘Ac:’
- Amount - ‘Amt:’
- Description - ‘Des:’
- ‘Date:’
- Balance - ‘ Bal:’
Any UBA credit alert you receive will always have these headings. It follows this exact order using the abbreviated form. So, if there is any mix-up or even a total difference, you can be sure it's a fake credit alert. Ensure you are precise as you check.
04. Check your Account Balance:
As mentioned earlier, no UBA credit alert will come without a balance heading. It'll tell you the numbers in your account currently. Only you and your bank know that piece of information. The person out to defraud you doesn’t have that knowledge and will for sure make up some false figures. If you don’t examine well enough you may be fooled. This is a quick way to check the authenticity of the credit alert.
05. USSD Account Balance Confirmation:
Lastly, you can confirm if the credit alert you received is real by simply checking if your account balance has been credited using USSD. Dial *919*00# to check your UBA account balance. No need to second guess if it's valid when you don’t see anything. It’s advisable to do this before allowing the customer to leave.
CONCLUSION
Though Bulk SMS services and Messaging apps are misused by fraudulent ones to trick people for their gain, they started as legitimate ways for getting genuine messages to people and they still are! Especially for marketing purposes. You can inform clients and business associates of new products, send promotional and appreciative messages and ask for feedback about the services you provide all with this tool. It is still one of the cheapest ways of business marketing.
At SmartSMSSolutions, you can give your business and personal communication a huge boost using Bulk SMS, voice, Email, and other services all at a low cost. Sign up for a free account at smartsmssolutions!
Now let's try again. So you received a credit alert! What are you going to do first? Apply the tips above to successfully determine if your UBA credit alert is real and never be a victim of fake credit alert scammers.