ICICI Bank has an ‘extortion scam’ warning for its customers: What is it and how to stay safe

ICICI Bank has a warning for its customers. The country’s second largest bank is warning against extortion scams where cybercriminals send threatening messages to individuals or organisations demanding payment in exchange for not releasing sensitive or embarrassing information. The bank is educating its customers about the scam via an email.

Extortion scams start with an e-mail that typically claims that the sender has compromising information, such as private photos or personal data of the recipient.The sender threatens to share it with the recipient’s friends, family or the public unless a payment is made.
The goal of these e-mails is to scare the recipient into paying the demanded amount, even though there might not be any compromising information to release.

In its email, ICICI Bank highlights some of the warning signs that can help spot a scam. These could be a call, message or an e-mail unexpectedly from someone claiming to be from a government department, debt collection agency or trusted company.
The caller will claim that you owe money and threaten you with legal action or arrest. He/she will further tell you that to fix the matter, you will need to pay a fee or fine. It may also ask for your personal information, such as your passport details, date of birth or bank information. To create false urgency, the caller may claim that the police will come to your doorstep and arrest you if you do not pay the fee or fine right away.

Some of the measures include: