SBI issues critical warning for Reward points and fake app download: What is this scam and tips to stay protected

State Bank of India (SBI) has issued a critical alert to its customers regarding a wave of fraudulent messages claiming to offer reward point redemptions. The bank has shared the warning along with some precautionary measures via a post on X. These scams aim to deceive users into providing personal information by downloading malicious apps on their smartphones.

What is the Reward points scam?
Reward point scams are basically a way of scammers to target their next victim. In such scams, scammers send an SMS or WhatsApp message telling them that they have some amount accumulated as the rewards point or they have reward points that are worth a hefty amount and here’s a list you need to click to download the app and claim that amount.

The link either redirects users to a fake website or an app apk file that are malicious and every data entered in that app gets shared with the scammers. In fact, payments made via the app go to scammers. Fraudulent SMS
SBI has also shared a sample SMS that scammers send to users. Here’s what it reads.

“Dear Customer
Account- Yono_SBI net banking
Reward point INR Rs.9895 will be Today
expiry documents redeem YOUR CASH
click Link https://ehct.short.gv/MeRIX7”

As per the shared SMS sample, the fraudulent messages typically tell users about the accumulated reward points, prompting them to click on a provided link for cash redemption.