A 34-year-old woman who works as a software engineer in a private company recently lost Rs 1.98 lakh to online scammers.
The victim had cancelled railway tickets and looked up the customer case number for Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) on the internet. She came across a fraudulent helpline number and the scammer induced her to share her bank account details and download a screensharing app. The scammer took a loan from the victim’s bank and diverted Rs 1.77 lakh from her account to other accounts in 20 transactions.
Woman approaches bank
Having learned about the fraud, the woman approached the bank. The police have registered a case under Sections 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the Indian Penal Code and 66C (identity theft) and 66D (cheating by personation by using computer resource) of the Information Technology Act, 2020.
“Always search customer care numbers on the official website or applications of the service provider. Never share details such as the card number or account number, card expiry date, CVV, PIN and OTP with anyone. Search engines don’t always give verified information. The number provided on search engines can be fake. Do verify the identity before handing any details to the customer care agent. Do not install any software or provide remote access to your device,” an official said.
