BHOPAL : Amid incidents of stealing of one time passwords (OTPs) in e-banking related cyber crimes, the state cyber police say that the banks need to be more responsible and take more concrete steps to curb it. They also suggest that the banks need to be more vigilant to keep an eye on the e-banking transactions to help the cyber police nab the accused responsible for such crimes.
On April 20, a 46-year-old man in Bhopal was allegedly duped of Rs 49,000 by an accused who identified himself as a bank official from Mumbai. He called the victim on his mobile phone and said his debit card was soon going to be blocked due to some technical reasons and he needed to send some details including his debit card number and the OTP sent on his mobile number which he eventually did. In another incident on April 19, two men were allegedly duped of Rs 55,000 in similar fashion by unknown accused in Gwalior. In both the cases, cyber crime police were successful in returning the duped amount to the victims by taking immediate action soon after receiving the complaints.
“In these crimes, the banks have to take more responsibility and put in more efforts to make the people aware about it so that they do not become victims,” said assistant inspector general, (crime), cyber police, Shailendra Singh Chouhan while speaking to Free Press.
He further told Free Press that the banking sector needed to create awareness under corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative.
“The banks need to make their customers literate about it. Also they cannot deny support to the victims of such crimes because directly or indirectly the banks are responsible for the security of victim’s money kept in their bank accounts. Generally it is seen that the victim when approaches his bank, it denies or dilly-dallies in giving him any support in listening to his complaint or help in returning the amount,” said Chauhan.
He also said the banks had to become extra vigilant while opening accounts.
“Usually during investigations it is found that the account in which the duped amount was transferred was opened on some fake documents. The banks need to properly verify the documents before opening any new bank account. Apart, the mobile service provider companies should also verify the identity proofs of the SIM card subscribers. The bank people should also call the people over phone and intimate them about any e-banking transaction done from their account which would increase the security of the bank accounts and help curb OTP related cyber crimes,” he said adding that apart from five zonal level cyber police stations in the state, nodal police stations had also been established in all the 51 districts to assist cyber crime victims.
However, when Free Press spoke to a bank official, he said banks always took security measures to curb e-banking related cyber crimes and enhance the security of accounts.
“In these cases, the customer has to be more vigilant because without his consent the OTP cannot be disclosed. Banks have already taken many measures like sending an awareness text message to its customers as well as making him aware about the dos and don’ts while doing e-transaction. Apart from this now there is one more facility available to customers to limit the amount of transaction though debit or credit card. They can set it by themselves or by contacting his or her bank,” said field general manager, Central Bank of India, Ajay Vyas.
