You would likely have come across debit alerts from your bank at times when you make a transaction on your bank account.
A Debit Alert Message is an SMS sent to you by your bank to inform you of any deductions made on your bank account. These deductions may range from payments you make to charges made by the bank on your account for maintenance and other applicable fees.
As a business-oriented or working-class individual, it is important to note and understand what a debit alert message should look like for the following reasons:
- It can be used to deceive vendors or other business individuals into thinking money they are being owed is well on its way.
- It can be used to scam those that are not at all familiar with the Debit Alert Messaging system as a whole.
- It is a sign of possible fraudulent activity.
It is important to identify the following typical features of a fake debit alert message:
- The message may often contain words that are misspelt.
- There are punctuations on the Bank Name. For example, ‘GTBank.’ instead of ‘GTBank’.
- The type of alert is written in small letters. For example, ‘Dr’ instead of ‘DR’.
- There is no ‘NGN’ before the amount. For example, ‘20,000’ instead of ‘NGN20,000’.
- The account number is not redacted, that is when the full account number of the recipient is displayed. For example, when the message displays ‘0232****11’ instead of ‘0232457611’.
- The debit alert was sent from a mobile number. Although this kind of scenario is usually rare, it may still occur and it is one of the easiest ways to spot a fake debit alert at a glance.
Conversely, a real debit alert would typically not display any of the features just outlined above.
Below are samples of real debit alerts from Access Bank and GTBank:
ACCESS BANK
Debit
Amt: NGN2,500.00
Acct: 019****922
Desc: Transfer to Oli Chukwu/2336718954
Date: 03/01/2022
Avail Bal: NGN32.92
Total Bal: NGN32.92
GTBANK
Acct: 0467485887
Amt: NGN500.00 DR
Desc: Airtime Purchase
Avail Bal: NGN21.68
Date: 17/Jan/2022 18:20
Generally, real debit alert messages relating to a particular transaction would often be received via your other channels (Email and Mobile Bank App) registered with the bank.
Ensure you do not rely on only one source for your debit alerts.
It would be helpful to know that a way to quickly save yourself from the wrong conclusions of receiving the fake alert is to immediately confirm from your Bank Mobile App or request your bank account balance via your bank’s USSD code.
You may also find out how to identify fake credit alerts here.
If you still have trouble identifying fake alerts, do leave a comment with us at