Never ever share one time password

Lakshmi Kothaneth

@lakshmioman

Can you share your OTP? The answer is, no, you should never share OTP.

There have been incidents that the General Department of Inquiries and Criminal Investigations of Royal Oman Police has taken the step to warn the public of a fraudulent method using the OTP verification number that reaches users via text message from unknown numbers.

The One Time Password is a key element in the digital world as more and more business transactions are being performed online.

“First of all OTP should not be shared and sent only to verify authenticity. In case it is shared or connected to a device or leaked, then potential fraudsters can use it to steal money, create fake accounts or even trade bitcoins. The options are many’’, said Mohammed Iqbal al Balushi, IT enthusiast.

With so much happening online, the security issue has been growing too and one of them is encouraging people to share their OTP.

One Time Password is a security mechanism that is used by third party vendors especially when using applications in purchasing or transferring money.

“Everyone is using OTP to authenticate who you are. It is very important that we do not share OTP because scammers use techniques to ask the victim that they want something and need the victim to share OTP’’, said Dr Haitham al Hajri, cyber security expert.

According to him the crimes that have been committed in the Sultanate of Oman are done through social media. “The cyber criminal targets a person and acquires his bank account details and then they try to transfer some money and they ask the account holder to send the OTP. The other method is cyber criminals using OTP to steal social media accounts including WhatsApp accounts. They will set up the WhatsApp account on another device. They send a message saying we need the OTP to ensure you are the right person to receive the gift, a voucher or something that is attractive’’, he pointed out.

However, genuine Organisations also request for OTP. So how does one distinguish the real request against the fake one?

Dr Haitham replied, “OTP is a very personal message that is sent to you. It is not meant to be shared with anyone. Especially the people who request you to share the OTP. They pretend to be an organisation and say we want to confirm that you have received the OTP. Now one has to realize that even when genuine organisations ask for OTP they ask you to type it on their website in response to your requested service. So out of the blue, if an OTP comes into your message and someone else asks for it, you should never share it.”