New Delhi, Oct. 2 -- Two weeks ago, I received a message from my private sector bank's verified WhatsApp account that said: "Dear Customer, The Loan on Credit Card details linked to your Credit Card ending XXXX have been revised. Please review the updated details. *T&C Apply."

I knew I had no loan, on the credit card or otherwise. So this had to be one of those promotional messages comedian Shamik Chakrabarti talks about in his recent stand-up, Status Update. The "pre-approved loan" kind, which most of us have learnt to treat as a blind spot by now. Except this one had come from my bank, in an active WhatsApp chat, where it routinely nudges me to check my account balance.

It wasn't a "-P" SMS I could block, report as spam and move on fr...