I-T inspector in Kalyan loses Rs1.23 lakh to vishing fraud

A cyber criminal called her and pretended to be an employee of a private bank, from where the official has taken home loan

A 44-year-old income tax inspector become the latest victim of vishing fraud, when a cyber criminal contacted her posing as a bank official and took details of three different debits cards, including one of her husband’s, and debited Rs1.23 lakh from the three accounts.

Vaishali Jadhav, the victim, gave the fraudster details of three debit cards, including one of her husband’s. (HT FILE)

Azad Maidan police registered a case in this connection on Thursday.

The complainant, Vaishali Jadhav, is a resident of Kalyan and works as an inspector in the Income Tax department. Jadhav has stated in her police complaint that she received a call on Wednesday wherein the caller pretended to be an employee of a private bank, from where she has taken home loan.

“The woman has taken home loan from the private bank and pays a monthly instalment of Rs43,000. Last month there was some problem, due to which she paid the instalment through cheque. The caller told her that there was some problem last month and hence he was verifying the facts this month. He then asked Jadhav to share details of her account and Jadhav too did so, as it was the last day to pay the EMI,” said a police official.

Jadhav told the police that she parted with details of her bank accounts and that of her husband’s account only after confirming that the caller’s number showed the name of the private bank’s Ghatkopar branch on the True Caller application.

On Wednesday, Jadhav gave the caller details of her two accounts — of her salary account and her private account — and shared the one-time password as well. The fraudster debited Rs50,000 and Rs49,000 from the two accounts. On May 10, the caller again contacted Jadhav, asking if she had any more accounts. She told him about her husband’s account and parted with details of his account as well as the one-time password. A sum of Rs24,000 was debited from his account, said the official.

Vasant Wakhare, senior police inspector of Azad Maidan police station, said a case has been registered under section 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the Information Technology Act, 2000.