The One Number That Protects You Against Fraud and Cons
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- October 1, 2020
Many Kenyans can attest to the number of scam-texts and calls they receive on a daily or weekly basis. I receive them almost every other day.
You’ve probably received messages directing you to links where you can access free airtime, money and other products. You may have clicked on the links and either landed on a dead-end or had to fill in a form with your details only to be disappointed by not receiving the promised incentive. If this has happened to you, are most likely a victim of a phishing scam.
A very close family member became one of their victims too. She received a call, telling her that her bank account has been having issues and she needs to update some details, and due to social distancing issues, they can help her correct the errors. Little did she know that she was being conned!
The scammers asked her of her account details, mobile banking pin, etc. which she obligingly furnished them with. After a short while, her account was wiped clean of every saving she had. She only received confirmation text of successful withdrawals. And she is not the only one.
Phishing is basically a cybercrime in which a target is contacted by email, telephone or text message by someone posing as a legitimate institution to lure individuals into providing sensitive data such as personally identifiable information, banking and credit card details, and passwords.
Earlier in the year, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) issued a fraud alert warning Kenyans on what to look out for to avoid being scammed and or robbed.
“Members of the public are hereby WARNED that criminals are using the Covid-19 pandemic to scam them through circulation of phishing emails purporting to sell non-existent items and messages that are accompanied by links that purport to offer free goodies like data bundles, money, airtime among other things,” says DCI.
And, sadly many Kenyans are falling prey to this, due to the current hard economic times.
It is in this background among many others that Equity Bank has launched the ONE EQUITY NUMBER 0763 000 000 through which Equity will be communicating with all its customers and stakeholders.
WHY THE ONE EQUITY NUMBER? 0763 000 000
The rollout of the One Equity number is part of the Bank’s recent rebranding, where Equity now presents a unified brand, a one stop shop offering integrated financial services under one roof.
The number embodies this goal by unifying all its outbound communication to external stakeholders. Meaning that, any Equitel or Equity Bank account holder will always be reached from the ONE EQUITY NUMBER 0763 000 000. Any other number calling its customers on behalf of the bank is therefore fraud!
The outgoing ONE EQUITY NUMBER 0763 000 000 has lots of benefits:
- ENHANCED CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE – The customers now know which number Equity staff engages them with making it easy for them to identify bank calls. i.e. “Equity will only call you through 0763 000 000’’. Equity staff never request for your PIN or OTP. If you receive such a request, report by forwarding the number requesting you to provide such information to 333.
- EASILY IDENTIFIABLE HENCE CONVENIENt TO CUSTOMER – The number is easily identifiable at a glance to the bank’s customers. All Equity staff, whether it is your branch manager, relationship manager, account opening officer, credit or loan officer, insurance officer, agriculture officer, procurement manager, investment advisor, shares buying or selling etc., they will ALL call you using ONE NUMBER; 0763 000 000.
- REDUCTION OF FRAUD THROUGH CALL IMPERSONATION – The One Equity Number 0763 000 000 is distinct and not easy to impersonate. The customers too can talk to the bank 24/7 by calling 100 if using Equitel, or 0763 063 000 from any other mobile network.
Also, take note of the following scenarios that the bank is bringing to your attention so as to be vigilant against fraudsters.
- SYSTEM UPGRADE – Official bank notification SMS informing you of the system upgrades will only come from EQUITY BANK or EQUITEL.
- ACCOUNT ISSUE – Any customer-facing a challenge with a platform should call the bank for support via 0763 063 000 (official contact centre number). However, the bank will never ask for personal information e.g. Account Number, Card Number and PIN.
- ACCOUNT SUSPENSION – This is used to scare customers and as a threat to make them share information with urgency. Therefore, if the caller does not use the ONE EQUITY NUMBER 0763 000 000, ignore the threat, block the number and report it.
- APP RE-ACTIVATION – This is a self-service process and the One Time Pin (OTP) sent to the customer’s phone is NOT to be shared. This OTP is also sent to the customer to authorize any transactions and payments that are done from the App. The bank will never ask a customer to share the OTP or any other PIN. DO NOT SHARE YOUR OTP and or PIN or KEY IN WHEN ASKED or INSTRUCTED. DO NOT.
The One Number will help customers answer concerns like:
How can I trust the person on the other side? How can I know it’s my bank calling me? Equity encourages all its customers to take note of this number, so that they are able to know when Equity is calling them.
Remember, Customers can talk to the bank 24/7 by calling 100 if using Equitel, or 0763 063 000 from any mobile network.
If anyone calls you purporting to be an Equity staff and the Caller ID is not 0763 000 000, DO NOT engage them. Report the number by sending it to 333.
