Mobile Recharge Offer Scam through an app

How it looks through an app, the red flags and what to do.

A fake app can be installed from a link, from a file sent on chat or even from a lookalike listing. Once on your phone it can ask for powerful permissions. Mobile Recharge Offer Scam is one of the ways this shows up: A message offers free recharge, extra validity or big cashback if you pay through a link. The link takes your money or card details.

What mobile recharge offer scam looks like through an app

• A screen-sharing or remote-control app that a caller asks you to install.
• A loan app that asks for contacts and photos.
• A "KYC", "challan" or "bank rewards" app from a link.

The scammer sends a message with the name of a mobile operator or a payment app, offering a free recharge, a festival pack or a loyalty reward. The text uses a short link and a line such as 'valid for today only'. Some versions come in WhatsApp groups with a forwarded message that says 'share with five friends to unlock', which spreads the scam.

Red flags to check on the app

• A free recharge needs a payment or fee first.
• A forward-to-five-groups step is part of the offer.
• The page asks for UPI ID, card details or OTP.
• A midnight deadline or limited users is mentioned.
• It asks for accessibility, screen overlay, SMS or contacts without a clear reason.
• You were told to install it by a stranger or a caller.

What to do

1. Do not tap the link or forward the message.
2. Check offers in your operator's own app or on its website typed by hand.
3. Never enter a UPI PIN or OTP for a free offer.
4. Change the passwords of your bank and email from a clean device if the app had access.
5. Run a phone scan (Safeavio Sentinel lists risky apps and settings).
6. Call your bank, and call 1930 if money moved.

Report the fake app to the store it came from and, if money moved, call 1930 and report at cybercrime.gov.in.

If money or a code is already gone

1. Call 1930 immediately with the transaction details.
2. Tell your bank through the number on your card or passbook.
3. Report at https://cybercrime.gov.in with the message and the page screenshots.
4. Uninstall any app you downloaded from the link and change your banking passwords.

National Cyber Crime Helpline: 1930; report at cybercrime.gov.in.

Safeavio's link check can review the offer link before you open it for lookalike domains, shortened links and risky patterns, and the scam check shows why the message looks like a pressure tactic with a money demand. It cannot see your operator's offers, so check them in the official app before you pay anything. It cannot see operator offers. Check your operator app.

Full guide: Mobile Recharge Offer Scam: how it works, signs and what to do. Other channels: SMS, WhatsApp, social media.

Questions