'Suno RBI Kya Kehta Hai' campaign against fake offers soon

The Reserve Bank will soon launch an awareness campaign -- Suno RBI Kya Kehta Hai -- through SMSes to warn the public against falling prey to unsolicited and fictitious offers from fraudsters.

The drive comes amid rising instances of fraudsters trying to dupe gullible customers by promising them lucrative financial gains and prize money through e-mails and SMSes, and even through phone calls.

"The Reserve Bank of India, India's central bank - will soon launch a public awareness campaign through SMSes to educate members of the public about various banking regulations and facilities available to them," the RBI said.

To begin with, the central bank will send messages cautioning people against falling victim to such unsolicited and fictitious offers. The cautionary messages will be sent from 'RBISAY' sender ID.

In the past also, the central bank has been alerting the public against such offers through press releases issued from time to time.

"This is the first time it will use the same media (SMS and e-mails) as those used by fraudsters," the RBI statement said.

People can also give a missed call to 8691960000 to get more information through Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) on fake calls or e-mails as "well as investing wisely and cautiously in chit funds", it added.