MSRXSecure your family
Most families lose money to the same handful of tricks. These steps close the doors those tricks use, one at a time. Do them yourself, then sit with a parent or a child and do theirs.
0 of 11 done · About 20 min
Why: In a scam the first minutes decide whether money can be frozen. Nobody searches for a number while panicking.
- Save 1930 as "Cyber Fraud 1930" in every family phone.
- Save 112 for emergencies.
- Save your bank's fraud line from the back of your card, as "Bank FRAUD".
- For senior citizens, save ElderLine 14567.
Why: An alert is how you learn about a fraud in a minute instead of a month. The rules that protect you reward quick reporting.
- In each bank app, open the alerts or notifications settings and switch on SMS and app alerts for all debits and card use.
- Check the mobile number and e-mail the bank has are yours and current.
- Add a daily transfer limit you are comfortable with, if the app offers one.
Why: Most losses come from people approving a payment they thought was a refund. Two habits stop nearly all of it.
- Use a UPI PIN that is not a birth year, phone number or 1234.
- Remember: you never enter a PIN to receive money. If a screen asks for the PIN, you are paying.
- Scanning a QR code or approving a "collect request" always sends money out. A refund never needs either.
- Read the name the UPI app shows before you confirm any payment.
Why: A taken-over WhatsApp is used to ask your contacts for money in your name, and strangers add people to scam groups.
- Settings → Account → Two-step verification: turn on and set a PIN you will remember.
- Settings → Privacy → Groups: choose "My contacts".
- Settings → Privacy → Calls: silence unknown callers.
- Settings → Linked devices: log out anything you do not recognise.
- Never share the 6-digit registration code with anyone, ever.
Why: This one account resets almost everything else: e-mail, photos, app stores and often banking apps. If it falls, the rest follows.
- Turn on 2-Step Verification (Google) or two-factor authentication (Apple ID).
- Add a recovery phone number and a second e-mail.
- Run the account's security checkup and remove devices and apps you do not use.
- Use a password for this account that you use nowhere else.
Why: Fake "bank", "challan" and "KYC" apps arrive as files in chats. Once installed, they read OTP messages and can take over the phone.
- Install apps only from the Play Store or App Store. Never open an .apk sent in a chat or SMS.
- Keep automatic updates on, and Play Protect on for Android.
- Never install a screen-sharing or remote-control app (AnyDesk, TeamViewer, QuickSupport) because a caller asks.
- Lock the phone with a PIN or fingerprint, and keep banking apps behind their own lock.
Why: Locked biometrics cannot be used to authenticate until you unlock them, which blocks a class of identity misuse. Unlock only when you need it.
- Use the mAadhaar app or myaadhaar.uidai.gov.in, typing the address yourself.
- Choose Lock/Unlock Biometrics and confirm with the OTP sent to your Aadhaar-linked mobile.
- Keep the Aadhaar-linked mobile number current: it is needed for this and for many services.
- When you share a copy, use the masked Aadhaar option.
Why: Fraudsters buy SIMs on other people's papers. You may find numbers in your name that you never took.
- Open sancharsaathi.gov.in and choose Know Your Mobile Connections (TAFCOP).
- Enter your mobile number and the OTP.
- For any number that is not yours, or no longer used, report it there.
- Repeat for each adult in the family.
Why: There is no such thing. The police, CBI, customs and courts do not arrest or investigate anyone over a video call, or ask for money to "clear" a case. Everyone in the family should know this.
- Say it out loud: no agency arrests anyone on video, and none takes payment to drop a case.
- If a call says so, hang up, and call a family member before doing anything.
- Report the number at sancharsaathi.gov.in (Chakshu) and call 1930 if money moved.
Why: Voices can now be copied from a few seconds of audio. A call that sounds like your son or daughter in trouble, asking for money, can be fake.
- Choose a word or question only the family knows, never posted online.
- Rule: any urgent request for money by call or voice note must include the code word, or be confirmed by calling the person back on their saved number.
- Practise it once so it is not forgotten under stress.
Why: A plan you have read once is the one you can follow while frightened.
- Call 1930 first, then the bank's fraud line, then file at cybercrime.gov.in.
- Keep the chat, SMS and call log. Do not delete anything.
- Bookmark the report-a-fraud page and the evidence pack on every family phone.
Ticks stay on this page and are gone when you close it. Nothing is saved or sent. Menu names change between app versions: look for the setting by its name. Checked on 30 October 2026. General information, not legal or financial advice. MSRX Security has no connection with any government body, bank or app maker.
Next: the scam quiz, the official-site checker and what to do if money has gone.