SBI users, government wants you to delete this SMS right away – Times of India

State Bank of India users, the government has an important fake alert for you. The advisory has been issued by the government agency PIB. Press Information Bureau or PIB is the nodal agency of the government of India to disseminate information to the print and electronic media on government policies, programmes, initiatives and achievements. The agency has asked SBI users not to respond to SMSes and calls that claim that their bank account has been blocked. It also asks SBI customers to not click on any link in messages that claim that their bank account has been blocked.
“A message in circulation claiming that your @TheOfficialSBI account has been blocked is #FAKE,” says a tweet from PIB. The tweet also has an image of one such fake SMS. It further asks users to:
* Do not respond to emails/SMS asking to share your personal or banking details.
* If you receive any such message, report immediately at [email protected]
What does the fake SMS asks SBI users to do
The PIB tweet shares the image of one such fake SMS that is in circulation. This is what the fraud SMS reads: “Dear A/c holder SBI BANK documents has expired A/c will be Blocked Now Click https://sbikvs.ll Update by Net Banking”

This is not the first time that such fake SMS have been found to be in circulation. In March this year, several SBI users reported recieving an SMS claiming that their SBI has got suspended due to non-compliance of RBI‘s KYC norms. This message had a link that asked users to click on and complete their KYC.
“Dear customer, your SBI Bank account has been suspended for KYC, please complete your KYC 10 minutes promptly by clicking this link.” The country’s largest bank issued warning to customers against claicking on this SMS.
“Here is an example of #YehWrongNumberHai, KYC fraud. Such SMS can lead to a fraud, and you can lose your savings. Do not click on embedded links. Check for the correct short code of SBI on receiving an SMS. Stay alert and stay #SafeWithSBI,” warned SBI via its official Twitter account with an image of a similar message.