‘Bank executive’ promises to increase credit card validity, dupes Mumbai woman of Rs35,000

Mumbai city news: He tricked her into sharing her credit card details, which he used to withdraw money from her bank account, said the DN Nagar police.

A 56-year-old housewife was allegedly duped of Rs34,997 by a man posing as a bank executive at Andheri (West) on Friday. He tricked her into sharing her credit card details, which he used to withdraw money from her bank account, said the DN Nagar police.

According to the police, the woman received a call at 2.05pm when she was cleaning her house at Manish Nagar

According to the police, the woman received a call at 2.05pm when she was cleaning her house at Manish Nagar. The man introduced himself as an executive from State Bank of India.

He told her that her credit card would soon expire, and to increase its validity period he needed the card details, said the police. Convinced, the woman shared the 16-digit number and CVV number on the back of the card. After the call, she received messages informing her that Rs34,997 had been withdrawn from her account.

Such cases are called vishing attacks in which cheats pose as officials from victims’ bank and persuade them to share credit or debit card details.

The police have registered a first information report (FIR) against the man under Sections 419 (impersonation), 420 (cheating) of the IPC and under Section 66 C (identity theft) of the ITAct.

Waiter among three arrested for card cloning

The Bandra police this week busted a gang of three men from Mumbai and Thane who allegedly cloned credit and debit cards of people and withdrew cash from their bank accounts.

One of the arrested men worked as a waiter in a bar at Santacruz. He allegedly cloned customers’ cards there, using skimmers, the police said. Skimmers are devices which are used to capture card details. Some of the patrons would also share their four-digit debit card PINs (personal identification numbers) to the waiter, said police.

The investigation has revealed that the gang duped two people of Rs62,000. The police suspected that the three men had cheated many people.

According to the Bandra police, a private sector bank in May told them that somebody had cloned one of its customers’ credit card and withdrawn money from an ATM on Carter Road in Bandra (West).

Based on technical evidence, the police identified and arrested the man who had withdrawn the money from the Carter Road ATM. The arrest led the police to another man who spilled the beans about the third.

Cyber experts have repeatedly warned people not to share card passwords during shopping. “People must swipe the card themselves and also cover the keypad of the swiping machine while entering the four-digit PIN,” said an expert.

In this case the patrons not only gave their cards but also gave their PINs to the waiter, who swiped the card on a skimming device. He passed on the details to the other accused, who cloned the cards and withdrew cash different ATMs in Mumbai.

The police have seized the equipment used to steal card details and clone cards.