Cyber Fraud: 87-year-old SoBo resident loses Rs 98,000 to phishing

Cyber Fraud: 87-year-old SoBo resident loses Rs 98,000 to phishing

Elderly victim is now left with only Rs 46 in her saving account

Priyanka NavalkarUpdated: Monday, July 27, 2020, 08:54 PM IST
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A Colaba-based octogenarian was duped of Rs 97,798 by a man posing as a bank official on the pretext of fixing her 'corrupt debit card'. The 87-year-old had received a call from the imposter in May and lost close to a lakh of rupees in a series of transactions, after she shared her privy debit card details with him. Colaba Police have booked the unidentified accused for cheating under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Information Technology (IT) Act.

The complainant, Roshan Engineer, 87, a resident of Colaba, had received a call on May 7, from a man who introduced himself as an agent of a nationalised bank, where the octogenarian is an account holder. The agent informed Engineer that her debit card has been reported as corrupt in the system and it will have to be renewed to reactivate.

The senior citizen believed the imposter's con and shared her details. "I was completely unaware of the online banking frauds and believed the man who claimed to be calling from the bank. The man called me on the following days and sought some more details like my debit card number, bank account number and the CVV number along with several One Time Passwords (OTP) to 'authenticate' the reactivation of the card," Engineer said in her complaint.

Not having suspected that she was conned, Engineer went to the bank on May 11 to withdraw money, only to find Rs 46 left in her account. She immediately raised an alarm and approached bank authorities, who informed her that of the three transfers, two online transfers were made from her debit card of Rs 34,999 and another one of Rs 27,800, losing out a total of Rs 97,798.

Engineer immediately filed a dispute form with the bank and approached police to lodge a complaint, following which the unidentified accused was booked under relevant sections of the IPC and IT Act. Police said, they have sought the Call Data Records (CDR) and are trying to identify the accused.

In case you are a victim of cyber fraud:▪︎

Immediately alert the local police station or call the 24x7 Cyber Helpline-- 9820810007 set up to prevent and tackle Cyber Crime.

▪︎For bank frauds, immediately alert the concerned bank, block the card and fill a dispute form. If a fraud is reported within 24 hours of crime, it becomes the responsibility of the concerned stakeholder to recover the money.

▪︎Never share your bank details, debit/credit card number, and One Time Password (OTP).

While alerting bank, keep following documents handy --

•Bank statement of the last six months

•A copy of SMSs received related to the alleged transactions

•Identity and address proof as shown in the bank records

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