HDFC credit card verification call or scam?

[Panthera_Tigris]

Hey guys,

I had applied for a Biz Black a couple of weeks ago and got a verification call on 13 Feb. They asked for my DoB, address and email. My RM had told me that you will get a call from a 0124 number in the next 45 mins so I went ahead with it that time.

Today (16 Feb), I got another call from a Mumbai number (022 6853 9868) for verification. There were a lot of suspicious things:

- Truecaller doesn't work on my iphone but Airtel showed it as a SPAM call.
- Today is Sunday!
- She was asking for my DoB and being very pushy

She asked me if I had applied for an HDFC credit card which I had. I asked her how can I know she is from HDFC but she just kept saying its a final verification call and give DoB. I refused and she cut the call.

What do you guys think? Even if it was a legit call, I can just appeal to the PNO later rather than risk it.

 

[NABNAB is verified member.]

What you want to report to the PNO?

 

[Panthera_Tigris]

What you want to report to the PNO?

If it was a legitimate verification call from HDFC and my application gets rejected, then I can just tell them that their call centres are indistinguishable from scam centres and to reconsider my application.

Why would they do such verification calls where they expect users to just give out all their personal information to unverified people on the phone?

 

[pythonlover]

I think it was a genuine call. If I remember correctly, I got 4 calls for verification during my DCB M application and at least one or two asked me my DOB and address. In fact the last verification call I got was at 8.30 PM in night, which I very luckily picked up. He asked for the nature of the institution I work in (I think he had googled the institute as the details he asked me was not mentioned in salary slip or application anywhere). When I explained it to him and asked whether my application was approved, he replied affirmatively. Just after 5 minutes I checked my application online, and found it approved.

If your application is rejected, I think the best you can do is write to PNO asking for reasons, and then explain your point of view.

 

[RichieRich]

It was a genuine call. Most of the banking numbers are marked as spam by Airtel

 

[NABNAB is verified member.]

If it was a legitimate verification call from HDFC and my application gets rejected, then I can just tell them that their call centres are indistinguishable from scam centres and to reconsider my application.

Why would they do such verification calls where they expect users to just give out all their personal information to unverified people on the phone?

That's how the process is.

Anyways, Follow the escalation matrix,

R

Thread 'Escalation Matrix for HDFC Bank CC'

Nov 25, 2022

Hello everyone, I applied for a DCB card under the Alumni route but was denied. The person handling the DCB relationship in Pune is not responding. Can you please help me get the escalation matrix so I can raise it to the higher authority to get the resolution?

• rishav05
• Replies: 13
• Forum: HDFC Bank Credit Card

 

[kartech]

I too applied for bizblack offline mode by even opening a savings account with hdfc. Got a call asking my dob address and full name. How can I know if it's fraud? Came from personal number. He says they will call again and visit home and business place to verify.
Shot a mail to hdfc regarding this how can one know if fraud or genuine calls, where as there are many other ways they can verify without being on the call. What's the point of asking the same details which they have and we only submitted them, because dob can be seen in aadhar portal. Address as well. Business address in GSTN. Email was verified during savings account creation. Phone number and face pics as well.

Was told card will get rejected without savings AC and then i raised a complaint and again they told the same. After creating account in a different nearby Branch and applying for bizblack the old branch guy calls up and says we can do without the account.

My cibil was hit when i tried to apply online but bizblack was not listed. I don't want them to hit it again,

 

[NUKE]

So this incident happened with me, which now seems suspicious and possibly fraudulent.

Yesterday, a person visited my house claiming to be from the HDFC Bank verification team. He said he was there to conduct an address verification. I was surprised, as I currently do not have any active account with HDFC Bank. I clearly informed him of this, but he insisted that he had been assigned my verification request and even showed me a picture on his phone, it was an image of a paper slip that displayed my full name and complete residential address.

This confused me for a moment. I remembered that I had applied for an HDFC credit card some time ago, but that application had already been rejected. When I told him this, he quickly responded that his visit was related to that specific credit card application. Since I was in the middle of work and unable to focus fully on the situation, I didn’t pay much attention to the fact that my application was already declined and that I had already completed the eKYC process earlier.

He then made a phone call in front of me and told the person on the other end that "the customer is at home." After that, he began speaking vaguely, saying things like, “Sometimes agents cancel the application but customers still want the card,” and that this verification was just to confirm whether I really rejected it or not. He made it sound like a routine follow-up.

Not wanting to engage further, I asked him to leave. However, before leaving, he took a photo of himself and then requested to take a photo of my house door while it was closed. When I asked why this was necessary, he explained that it was required as proof that he had physically visited the customer’s residence. Trusting what he said, I allowed him to take the picture and then he left.

It was only later, after I had time to think everything through, that I realized how unusual the situation was. The application in question had already been rejected, so there should have been no verification pending. Also, I had already completed the eKYC during the application process, so a physical visit made no sense.

What concerns me most is how he had access to my full name and residential address, and why he was conducting a verification for a closed or rejected application. This has left me with the impression that it may have been a scam or misuse of my personal data.

I have since raised a complaint with HDFC Bank through their grievance redressal channel, but I am unsure whether the matter will receive the seriousness it deserves.

So, below are the things I'm concerned for:

I want to understand whether any official verification was really scheduled for my (now rejected) credit card application.

If not, how did this person get my personal information, and was it a case of identity misuse or internal data leakage?

Is there a way to verify if this individual was genuinely associated with HDFC Bank?

Should I report this to the local police or cybercrime unit?

So I need help on what steps I should take next, as I am genuinely concerned about the possible misuse of my information.

 

[Humanbeing]

So this incident happened with me, which now seems suspicious and possibly fraudulent.

Yesterday, a person visited my house claiming to be from the HDFC Bank verification team. He said he was there to conduct an address verification. I was surprised, as I currently do not have any active account with HDFC Bank. I clearly informed him of this, but he insisted that he had been assigned my verification request and even showed me a picture on his phone, it was an image of a paper slip that displayed my full name and complete residential address.

This confused me for a moment. I remembered that I had applied for an HDFC credit card some time ago, but that application had already been rejected. When I told him this, he quickly responded that his visit was related to that specific credit card application. Since I was in the middle of work and unable to focus fully on the situation, I didn’t pay much attention to the fact that my application was already declined and that I had already completed the eKYC process earlier.

He then made a phone call in front of me and told the person on the other end that "the customer is at home." After that, he began speaking vaguely, saying things like, “Sometimes agents cancel the application but customers still want the card,” and that this verification was just to confirm whether I really rejected it or not. He made it sound like a routine follow-up.

Not wanting to engage further, I asked him to leave. However, before leaving, he took a photo of himself and then requested to take a photo of my house door while it was closed. When I asked why this was necessary, he explained that it was required as proof that he had physically visited the customer’s residence. Trusting what he said, I allowed him to take the picture and then he left.

It was only later, after I had time to think everything through, that I realized how unusual the situation was. The application in question had already been rejected, so there should have been no verification pending. Also, I had already completed the eKYC during the application process, so a physical visit made no sense.

What concerns me most is how he had access to my full name and residential address, and why he was conducting a verification for a closed or rejected application. This has left me with the impression that it may have been a scam or misuse of my personal data.

I have since raised a complaint with HDFC Bank through their grievance redressal channel, but I am unsure whether the matter will receive the seriousness it deserves.

So, below are the things I'm concerned for:

I want to understand whether any official verification was really scheduled for my (now rejected) credit card application.

If not, how did this person get my personal information, and was it a case of identity misuse or internal data leakage?

Is there a way to verify if this individual was genuinely associated with HDFC Bank?

Should I report this to the local police or cybercrime unit?

So I need help on what steps I should take next, as I am genuinely concerned about the possible misuse of my information.

The agent is actually from 3rd party risk mitigation company who has tied up with the various banks to do the verification check/tasks such as home address/office address etc. They are not official bank employees but the 3rd party agents usually do the customer profile verification as provided by the banks based on your application process. These are normal practices done by the risk mitigation company in order to provide better services to the banks so they can decide whether person is genuine or not. They do carry hidden cam & record every conversation, also photos taken by these agents include GPS cam which will help them to verify if the address is same as provided by the customers during application process. They do ask the people in your vicinity to cross verify the occupation or types of business etc. So, this is normal practices usually performed by the banks for risk mitigation. Since your application has already been rejected so you can ask the genuine reason of rejection but don't worry about the incident regarding home or employment verification by the agent.

 

[NUKE]

The agent is actually from 3rd party risk mitigation company who has tied up with the various banks to do the verification check/tasks such as home address/office address etc. They are not official bank employees but the 3rd party agents usually do the customer profile verification as provided by the banks based on your application process. These are normal practices done by the risk mitigation company in order to provide better services to the banks so they can decide whether person is genuine or not. They do carry hidden cam & record every conversation, also photos taken by these agents include GPS cam which will help them to verify if the address is same as provided by the customers during application process. They do ask the people in your vicinity to cross verify the occupation or types of business etc. So, this is normal practices usually performed by the banks for risk mitigation. Since your application has already been rejected so you can ask the genuine reason of rejection but don't worry about the incident regarding home or employment verification by the agent.

My main concern is that, with so many loan scams happening these days, I’m worried this could be one of them. I fear that someone might use this so called verification to apply for a loan in my name. The person who came for the verification didn’t carry any bag or documents, which seemed odd to me from the start.

What raised even more suspicion was that he wasn’t sure why he was there. He initially said it was for an account verification, but I don’t even have an HDFC account. Only after I mentioned that I had applied for a credit card did he say, “Yes, it could be for that,” which made it clear he had no proper information.

I’ve gone through several credit card verifications before, but this is the first time something like this has happened. My card application was submitted a month ago, and I had already completed the eKYC back then. Also, I had an HDFC credit card 10 months ago, which I closed.

Since yesterday, I’ve been really stressed thinking this might have been a setup for a loan scam, and that they conducted this fake verification to misuse my details

 

[Humanbeing]

My main concern is that, with so many loan scams happening these days, I’m worried this could be one of them. I fear that someone might use this so called verification to apply for a loan in my name. The person who came for the verification didn’t carry any bag or documents, which seemed odd to me from the start.

What raised even more suspicion was that he wasn’t sure why he was there. He initially said it was for an account verification, but I don’t even have an HDFC account. Only after I mentioned that I had applied for a credit card did he say, “Yes, it could be for that,” which made it clear he had no proper information.

I’ve gone through several credit card verifications before, but this is the first time something like this has happened. My card application was submitted a month ago, and I had already completed the eKYC back then. Also, I had an HDFC credit card 10 months ago, which I closed.

Since yesterday, I’ve been really stressed thinking this might have been a setup for a loan scam, and that they conducted this fake verification to misuse my details

Sometimes novice agents tend to follow such practices given the fact that banks don't tell them for which purposes it is required to do the verification. They just want to do the profile check in the form of verification so these agents follow the instructions given by their head/area manager.
Though, your concern is legit so you can shoot a mail to the higher authority if it is done by the bank or not given the fact that your card was already rejected & what's the point of doing it after a month or so.