One link and your phone is empty! How screen-sharing scams are preying on Indians

Cyber ​​Fraud: Imagine one evening you receive a message on your phone stating that your electricity bill is due and that if it's not paid immediately, your connection will be disconnected.

Imagine one evening you receive a message stating that your electricity bill is due and that if it's not paid immediately, your connection will be disconnected. The message mentions MAHADISCOM, so there's no suspicion. It also provides a number or prompts for you to enter your details on a link.

When you call, you're told you only need to deposit ₹100. To reassure you, a link is immediately sent via WhatsApp or SMS. You open the link, enter your bank details, and pay the small amount. Everything seems normal.

But about 10–15 minutes later, your phone rings again. This time, the message isn't a payment receipt, but a bank alert. In one transaction after another, ₹6.5 lakh is withdrawn from your account. When you try to check the link again, it's gone. Then you realize that a single message and a little trust wiped out your entire savings.

Since 2022, this scam has been targeting elderly users. Under the guise of a power bill, KYC update, refund, or tech support, scammers ask you to install a screen-sharing or remote access app. Once you share your screen, scammers can see everything happening on your phone in real time.

Experts say that screen sharing on mobile phones is the most dangerous. Scammers can even see your banking apps, OTPs, SMS alerts, and notifications. Furthermore, they can manipulate the screen and trick you into approving transactions. This way, your money is siphoned off without even stealing the OTP.

The greatest strength of these scams isn't technology, but fear and haste. Threats like power outages, account blockages, or refund cancellations don't give you time to think. Within minutes, fraudsters access all your financial data and cause damage.

Screen-sharing frauds aren't just replacing OTP or phishing scams, they're strengthening them. Fraudsters can even see the OTP appear on your screen and convince you to complete the transaction yourself. This makes this new method faster, more reliable, and harder to detect.

Be wary if a message suddenly instills fear, pressures you to pay quickly, or comes from a personal mobile number. Government or bank-related messages always come from an official ID, not a 10-digit number.