Beware of Verified by Visa (VBV) phishing emails for Indian banks

RBI (Reserve Bank of India) recently tightened security for online shopping in India. RBI has made it mandatory for all the online transactions to have an additional level of security from August 1st 2009 onwards. This security mandate will require that a password be supplied along with other card details such as credit card number, expiry date at the time of transaction to ensure that it’s the card holder who is authorizing the payment.

It means that going forward, when you shop online your credit card will be verified under ‘Verified by Visa’ or ‘Verified by Mastercard’ programme by providing a password. After august 1st, card holders who have not created a password under this program will be prompted to create a password for their card at the merchant’s website or the payment gateway.

This initiative by RBI is for sure going to get a lot of phishing emails into your mailbox with links that will look as if they are linking to your bank’s official website but actually may be a trap to get your credit card and other important information. So, make sure that you visit your bank’s official website and register for the password instead of clicking on any links in the emails you might receive in your mailbox.

Let your friends and family members know about this potential phishing attack before it’s too late.