How a Gujarat co-operative bank strengthens digital trust with Hunto AI
Industry
Urban Co-operative Banking
Scale
Multi-branch retail and MSME bank with growing digital adoption
Product used
Hunto AI Brand Monitoring & Takedown
Location
Gujarat, India
About Client
This Gujarat-based co-operative bank serves local communities and MSMEs through a network of branches plus mobile, UPI/IMPS, and net-banking channels. Seasonal campaigns and high-intent searches like “net banking login” and “customer care” drive growth but also draw impersonators who exploit the bank’s name to phish customers, collect fees, or harvest credentials. With a lean central IT and operations team, the bank sought a repeatable program to detect abuse early, remove it quickly with proof, and pass supervisory scrutiny.
Challenges faced
Impersonation around high-intent moments
Fraudsters launched look-alike domains, fake support handles, and pages spoofing KYC revalidation, refund/settlement confirmations, card block/unblock, and “priority helpdesk” numbers—especially during rate promos and festival campaigns.
Hijacked search and social
Malicious paid placements and SEO-poisoned pages intermittently outranked official links for branded queries. Imposter accounts replied under the bank’s social posts with phishing links and phone numbers.
Fragmented, slow takedowns
Registrars, hosts, social platforms, job boards, and ad networks each demanded different artifacts and policy hooks. Evidence was scattered in screenshots and email threads, stretching time-to-takedown and allowing mirrors to resurface.
Audit readiness and third-party oversight
Supervisory reviews expected demonstrable continuous monitoring, incident reporting, and oversight of vendor-managed public assets. Legal and audit teams needed artifact-rich case files that could be exported on demand.
Customer support strain
Scam waves triggered ticket spikes and branch escalations. CX lacked standardized scripts and a public reference for verified channels, slowing resolution and confusing customers.
Hunto AI Solution
Objective: detect and remove impersonation infrastructure across domains, social, job boards, messaging, and ads—while producing audit-grade, RBI-aligned proof without adding headcount.
Rapid onboarding and pattern seeding
We ingested official domains, verified handles, app IDs, and campaign terms, then seeded banking-specific lures (KYC revalidation, UPI/OTP harvest, refund/settlement confirmation, card block/unblock, fee-collection scams) into always-on monitors.
Always-on brand monitoring
- Look-alike domain hunting using fuzzy and homograph checks, passive DNS, and page-similarity scoring to surface new registrations early
- Social and job-board sweeps to detect imposter support profiles, fake recruitment, and vendor/tender fee traps
- Search and ads watchlists to flag malicious paid placements and SEO traps intercepting branded queries during peaks
- Messaging and link-hub tracking to reveal amplification networks behind recurring scams
Agentic takedown execution with evidence
- Auto-assembled case files for every finding: screenshots, WHOIS/ASN, hosting metadata, timestamped crawls, link graphs, and platform-policy citations
- Platform-native notices to registrars/hosts, social networks, job boards, app stores, and ad networks—to lift first-notice acceptance
- Post-removal re-scans mapping mirrors and connected infrastructure so clusters are suppressed, not just single URLs
Customer safety and CX enablement
- Paste-ready Official Channels microsnippet listing verified URLs, app IDs, and handles, with a simple “how to report” flow
- Short CX scripts for branches and contact center to standardize verification, escalation, and education
Reporting and governance
- Executive dashboard showing detections, median Time-to-Takedown (TTD), first-notice acceptance, scam survival time, and a directional proxy for trust/revenue protection
- Monthly evidence archives packaging all case files for internal audit and supervisory interactions, with vendor-ownership labels for third-party oversight
Impact
“We replaced ad-hoc screenshot chasing with a measurable, repeatable process. Fraud pages come down faster, customers get clear guidance, and we answer audit questions with a single export.”
– Head of IT & Operations, Gujarat co-operative bank (name withheld)
Measured outcomes in the first 120 days suitable for publication
Scale
- 165+ abusive assets detected across domains, social, job boards, and ads
- ~77% removed on first notice; most of the remainder cleared after one follow-up
Velocity
- Median TTD under 24 hours for registrar/hosting cases
- Median TTD under 12 hours for social and job-board listings after evidence submission
- Malicious paid placements reported within 2–6 hours during campaign peaks, reducing diversion from branded queries
Customer support relief
- Visible drop in scam-related enquiries after Official Channels and CX scripts went live
- Fewer repeat investigations due to standardized evidence packs and closure templates
Governance
- Evidence-ready, time-stamped case files shortened responses to internal audit and supervisory requests on external monitoring and incident handling
- Clear oversight of vendor-managed public assets during third-party reviews
How Hunto AI maps to RBI and national cyber expectations
RBI Cyber Security Framework in Banks (2016)
Expects continuous surveillance, incident handling, and resilience against phishing/social engineering. Hunto AI’s 24×7 external monitoring and evidence packs feed the SOC and incident records supervisors expect to see.
RBI Outsourcing of IT Services Directions (2023)
Requires governance and oversight for third parties so outsourcing does not dilute obligations to customers or impede supervision. Hunto AI’s vendor-asset labeling, takedown metrics, and monthly archives support audit rights and periodic service-provider reviews.
CERT-In Directions under the IT Act (May 2022)
Mandate six-hour reporting for specified cyber incidents and 180-day log retention in India. Phishing, identity misuse, and fake apps fall within reportable classes; Hunto AI’s time-stamped artifacts align with logging and timely reporting.
Digital Personal Data Protection Act (2023)
Requires reasonable security safeguards and breach notification as prescribed. By suppressing impersonation infrastructure early and documenting actions, Hunto AI strengthens due-diligence and breach-prevention posture.
Why this worked for a manufacturing brand
Speed with proof
Agentic evidence assembly and platform-native submissions improve first-time acceptance and shorten removal cycles.One console for lean teams
Detection, takedown, mirror hunts, and CX guidance run in a single workflow without extra headcount.Compliance and security together
Evidence archives, trendlines, and vendor visibility map cleanly to RBI expectations while cutting real fraud in the wild.
About Hunto
Hunto AI quantifies external cyber and brand risk and resolves it automatically. Brand Monitoring & Takedown detects impersonation across domains, social, job boards, messaging, and ads, then executes removals with evidence that stands up to scrutiny. Banks can add Attack Surface Monitoring to consolidate external hygiene in one platform.
Protect customers and brand trust while staying audit ready.
Request a no integration Brand Abuse Snapshot and receive an evidence ready takedown pack plus a 30 day suppression plan aligned to RBI expectations.