FPJ Cyber Secure: DBS Bank Employee Loses ₹3.15 Lakh In Online Fraud

Mumbai: A 52-year-old employee at DBS Bank became the latest victim of cyber fraud where the fraudsters posed as bank employees, offering her “new changes” in her credit card.

In the due process, they siphoned ₹3.15 lakhs off her bank account.

DBS Bank employee becomes the latest victim to cyber frauds

The victim, Hina Malekar, a resident of Shiv Sena Bhavan at Mahim, received a call on December 15 who addressed himself as an employee at ICICI Bank’s Credit Card department. He said the credit card issued to her needs some “change” and to execute it, she will have to download the app from the bank. He said that he had sent a link to Hina’s WhatsApp, which she clicked and an app was downloaded on her device.

She was told to fill in some basic details on the app, and as she did, she received a One-Time Password (OTP) on her mobile number. As she entered the OTP on the device, she started to get text messages from her bank, informing her about several transactions that took place, without her knowledge.

Victim realises she was duped

When she asked about why money was debited from her bank account, they said, it’s a part of the UTR process. UTR stands for Unique Transaction Reference number, which is used by banks for all types of money transfers. UTR is also used to track the status of transactions. Before disconnecting the phone, the fraud assured her that all the money would be reflected in her account soon. However, nothing of the sort happened, and she realized she was duped.

Hina and her husband immediately went to the bank’s Worli branch and informed them. They told her it was a case of cyber fraud, and asked her to report it on the National Cyber Crime Portal online and also register a case. A case has been registered against unknown persons at the Shivaji Park police station.