Don’t give your credit, debit card details to bank ‘officials’: Six people in Mumbai have lost their money to such frauds

According to the police, this modus operandi — vishing — was used to withdraw Rs1.06 lakh from their bank accounts

The Azad Maidan police has registered six cases of credit/debit card frauds this year. All six victims received telephone calls from people posing as bank officials and tricking them into revealing their card details. According to the police, this modus operandi — vishing — was used to withdraw Rs1.06 lakh from their bank accounts.

According to statistics made from the Mumbai police, 15 cases of credit/debit card frauds have been registered across the city in the first week and none have been detected.

According to statistics made from the Mumbai police, 15 cases of credit/debit card frauds have been registered across the city in the first week and none have been detected.

Last year in the first week, 12 were registered across the city and none was detected.

A source from Azad Maidan police said, “Prevention is the best way to curb this crime as it is difficult to recover the money. The amount withdrawn is small and it is difficult to recover it. To find these criminals is difficult as they operate from remote areas in other states.”

One of the victims HT spoke to, on condition of anonymity, said, “I am using a debit card of SBI. He called me saying he is a manager at SBI. He said my card was going to be blocked. He then asked me for my card details if I wanted to stop my card from getting blocked. He asked for a number on my card and the one-time password which I gave. Within hours, I got messages that money was withdrawn from my account. A total of Rs17,700 was withdrawn.”

The Mumbai Police’s Twitter handle too has been receiving several tweets since last year on vishing cases. Citizens have also tweeted the phone numbers from which they have received calls from fraudsters posing as bank officials asking for bank details. The Twitter team forwards all the numbers to the cyber police station at the BKC.

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