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AnyDesk and screen-sharing app scams: why a caller wants your screen

If someone who called you, or a helpline you found through a search, asks you to install AnyDesk, TeamViewer QuickSupport or any screen-sharing app, hang up. These are legitimate tools, but once a stranger has access they can watch or control your phone, see the OTPs that arrive and use your banking and UPI apps. RBI says to install such an app only on advice from a company's official toll-free number. If you already installed one, disconnect, uninstall it and call your bank now.
A smartphone lying on an open notebook next to a laptop keyboard on a wooden desk
Photo: 6689062 on Pixabay

Before anyone gets access to your phone

Tap each one as you check it.

What screen-sharing apps are and how scammers misuse them

AnyDesk, TeamViewer and similar apps let one person see and control another person's phone or computer from far away. IT teams use them every day. The danger is who you give access to.

RBI's fraud booklet describes the scam: fraudsters trick you into downloading a screen-sharing app, watch or control your phone or laptop, collect your financial credentials, and use your internet banking or payment apps to move money. When RBI first warned banks about this in 2019, the trick was to get victims to share the 9-digit code the app shows and accept permissions that look like any other app's.

The refund or support call

The request usually comes in the middle of something that feels routine: a refund that has not arrived, a KYC update, an electricity bill, or a call to a customer care number found online. In October 2026 Kerala Police warned that callers on fake helplines ask people to install remote access apps to “resolve the complaint”.

Example. Names and numbers are made up.

In one 2022 case in Jalandhar, a retired officer who called the number in a fake electricity bill message was told to install a remote support app from the Play Store, and lost more than ₹1 lakh. See Electricity bill disconnection scams.

Signs a caller wants control of your phone

Signs it is a scam

  • Asks you to install AnyDesk, TeamViewer or a “support app”
  • Asks you to read out the code the app shows
  • Tells you to tap “Allow” on every permission
  • Wants you to open your bank or UPI app while connected
  • Called you, or you found them through a search result

Safer practice

  • You started the contact through an official toll-free number
  • You log out of payment apps before any remote session
  • You never share codes, OTPs or PINs
  • You end the session and uninstall the app afterwards
  • You raise refund problems inside the official app
AnyDesk's own advice: legitimate officials will never ask to access your device unsolicited, never share access codes, and only give access to people you trust.

If you already gave someone access

  1. Turn on airplane mode or switch off Wi-Fi and mobile data to cut the session.
  2. Uninstall the screen-sharing app.
  3. Call your bank on the number on your card or its official website and ask it to block cards, net banking and UPI.
  4. From a different device you trust, change your net banking password, UPI PIN and email password.
  5. Report it on 1930 or at cybercrime.gov.in as soon as you can.

Speed protects you. Under RBI's rules, if money is lost because you shared payment credentials, you bear the loss until you report it to the bank, and the bank bears losses after that.

If it already happened

  1. Cut the connection by turning off Wi-Fi and mobile data, then uninstall the screen-sharing app.
  2. Call your bank on the number on your card and ask it to block your cards, net banking and UPI, and to flag any transfers you did not make.
  3. Change your net banking password, UPI PIN and email password from a device the caller never accessed.
  4. Save the caller's number, the app name and any codes or messages, and report the number on Chakshu at sancharsaathi.gov.in.
  • Call 1930The national cyber fraud helpline. Call within hours if money left your account.
  • cybercrime.gov.inFile a complaint online and keep the acknowledgement number.
  • Chakshu on Sanchar SaathiReport a fraud call, SMS or WhatsApp number.

Questions

Is AnyDesk safe?
The app itself is a legitimate remote support tool. The risk is giving access to someone you do not know: AnyDesk says never to share access codes and to allow access only to trusted people.
Can someone steal money if I share my screen?
Yes. RBI says fraudsters who get this access can watch or control your device, collect your banking credentials and make payments through your internet banking or payment apps.
Will my bank ever ask me to install AnyDesk or TeamViewer?
RBI advises downloading such an app only when you are told to through the company's official toll-free number, and never when an executive contacts you from a personal number.
I uninstalled the app. Am I safe now?
Uninstalling ends their access, but call your bank anyway and change your passwords and UPI PIN, because they may already have seen your details.

Never give a stranger your screen. When you need to know who someone you met online really is, you can ask them to prove it with a Realr check instead.

Ask them to verify

Sources

Checked against the sources above on 17 October 2026. By Manav Sharma, Marketing Team, Realr. This is general guidance, not legal advice.

Ask them to prove who they are, before you pay or meet.

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