Screen-sharing app scam (AnyDesk, TeamViewer): what to do (India)
Last updated: 2026-07-11
No genuine bank, company, or government office ever asks you to install a screen-sharing or remote-access app — AnyDesk, TeamViewer, QuickSupport, or any other — to "help" you, "verify" you, or give you a "refund".
Once such an app is running, the caller can see your screen and often control your phone: read the OTPs that arrive, see your balances, and operate your banking apps. If someone on a call asked you to install one, refuse and hang up. If you already installed it, treat your device as compromised and act now — the steps are below.
How the scam works (so you can spot it)
A caller poses as your bank, a support desk, or a government office and says there is a problem — a failed refund, a blocked card, a "verification" — and that they need to "see your screen to help". They tell you to install an app from your phone's store or a link. Once it is installed and you grant it access, they watch everything you do and can take over. That is when they read your OTPs, open your banking app, and move your money — while keeping you talking so you don't notice.
The single rule that keeps you safe: no legitimate organisation needs to watch or control your phone to solve a problem. Any request to install a screen-sharing or remote-access app during a call is the scam itself.
If you already installed it — do these, in order
If the app is still on your phone, the caller may still have access. Move quickly and use a different, trusted device (a family member's phone, another computer) for anything involving passwords — not the phone that was shared.
- End the call and turn off the internet on the affected phone (turn on airplane mode, or switch off Wi-Fi and mobile data). This cuts the remote connection immediately.
- Uninstall the screen-sharing / remote-access app (AnyDesk, TeamViewer, QuickSupport, or whatever they had you install).
- From a different, trusted device, change your banking passwords, net-banking login, and UPI PIN. Do not do this on the phone that was compromised.
- Call 1930, the national cyber-crime helpline, and report the fraud. Note the reference number.
- File a complaint at cybercrime.gov.in to create the official record. Save the acknowledgement number.
- Tell your bank immediately — on the number printed on your card — to flag any unauthorised transaction and block further debits.
- Check for anything else that was installed or changed on the phone: unknown apps, changed passwords, or forwarding rules you did not set.
Act fast — the sooner you report, the better the chance that 1930 and your bank can freeze the money at the receiving account before it is withdrawn. A bank may treat transfers made while your screen was shared as authorised, so a refund is not assured — but fast reporting is still your best chance. Recovery is possible but never guaranteed.
Beware a second scam: the only ways to report are 1930, cybercrime.gov.in, and your own bank. Anyone who phones or messages offering to recover your lost money for a fee — a "recovery agent", "refund officer", or fake "cyber cell" — is a fresh fraud. Never pay to get your money back.
The full first-hour steps are here: UPI fraud — what to do in the first hour.
If the bank does not help
Keep every complaint acknowledgement number. If your bank does not resolve the matter within a reasonable time, you can escalate to the RBI Ombudsman (cms.rbi.org.in) and seek redress through the National Consumer Helpline (1915). All of these are linked below so you can act directly.
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