“Your KYC is suspended”: anatomy of India's most forwarded smishing SMS

The message

SBI ALERT: Your account KYC is SUSPENDED. Verify within 24 hrs or account will be BLOCKED: http://sbi-kyc-verify-urgent.xyz/login

It was not from your bank. The link leads to a lookalike page that asks for your card number, then "verifies" you by asking for the OTP — which the scammer relays into the real transaction draining your account, in real time.

The five-second test

1. Sender: banks SMS from registered headers (e.g. JD-SBIHDR), never random 10-digit numbers.
2. Link: hover or long-press first. sbi-kyc-verify-urgent.xyz is not onlinesbi.sbi — hyphens, urgency words, and odd endings (.xyz, .top, .sbs) are the tell.
3. Urgency: "24 hours or blocked" is social engineering, not banking. Real compliance notices arrive by post and inside the official app, with weeks of lead time.
4. OTP requests: no bank, RBI office, or telecom company asks for your OTP on a call or a link. Ever.

What to do

1. Paste the link into our free scam-link scanner before opening it.
2. Verify through the official app you already have installed — never through the SMS link.
3. Forward the SMS to your operator's spam-reporting number and report at cybercrime.gov.in.
4. Learn the sibling lures on India's threat landscape.