The addresses of all the banks have changed, do not do this even by mistake, otherwise your entire account will be emptied..

The next time you go to open your bank's website, pause for a moment. If your fingers are habitually typing sbi.com or hdfcbank.com, this news is of paramount importance for you and your money. The face of online banking in India has completely changed. Following a major and strict decision by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), nearly all major and small banks in the country, including State Bank of India (SBI), HDFC Bank, and ICICI Bank, have changed their website addresses (domain names). This change is the biggest step taken so far to protect your hard-earned money from cyber fraud.

The 'game' of .com and .in is over.
What forced banks to change their long-standing and well-known websites? The obvious answer is the increasing incidence of phishing. Phishing is a method of cyber fraud in which criminals create a fake website that looks exactly like your bank's.

Until now, fraudsters would create a fake website that resembled your bank, say, 'mybank.com,' with an address like 'mybank.co.in' or 'mybank-online.com.' These fake websites were identical in appearance, design, and logo. The criminals would send an SMS or email saying, "Your account has been blocked," "Your KYC has expired," or "You have won a lottery worth ₹50,000." This message would include a link.

When a customer, out of panic or greed, clicked on the link, they would be redirected to the fake website instead of the real one. There, they would enter their real username, password, and OTP, believing they were completing their task. But in reality, all this confidential information would reach the fraudsters, and they would clear your account in a flash. Since anyone could easily purchase a '.com' or .in' domain, it was difficult to stop these criminals.

How will the new 'security shield' protect you?
The RBI has implemented the '.bank.in' domain to break this fraudulent network. This isn't a simple domain that anyone can buy online. Domains like '.com', '.in', or '.org' (called TLDs) can be easily registered by any individual or company.

But '.bank.in' is a 'super secure' domain, or rather a 'high-security zone'. Banks must undergo a rigorous verification process to obtain this domain. This domain is only allocated to financial institutions that have received direct approval from the Reserve Bank of India and meet all its requirements.

This means that no fraudster or cybercriminal will be able to create a fake website similar to the '.bank.in' name. This domain itself is a guarantee, an identity card that you are on a genuine, verified, and secure banking portal. It's similar to how 'gov.in' or 'nic.in' are the standard trademarks for government websites in India. Now, whenever you see '.bank.in' on a bank's website, you can be fairly certain.

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