Mumbai woman banks on stranger to bail her out at ATM, loses Rs4.20L in cyber fraud

Mumbai city news: The man offered to help her at ATM kiosk and exchanged his card with hers

A 26-year-old high school teacher from Santacruz lost Rs4.20lakh in cyber crime after a man clandestinely exchanged his card with hers at an ATM kiosk, said the police. He offered to help her as she had some problem in withdrawing money from the ATM.

The fraud later used the woman’s card to withdraw Rs4.2lakh from her account.

The fraud later used the woman’s card to withdraw Rs4.2lakh from her account.

On June 14, the woman went to her bank in Santacruz to deposit money which she wanted to transfer into her sister’s account. After depositing the money, she went to withdraw money from an ATM.

She told the police she inserted the ATM card but could not access her account.

“A man standing nearby told her that she was not inserting the card properly. He asked for her card and inserted it in the ATM slot. He then told her to enter the PIN, which he noticed. However, she was unable to withdraw money. He told her to try another ATM. There too, her card did not work,” said an officer from Santacruz police station.

She got to know about the fraud on June 26 when her brother called her up about the debited amount . Although, she received messages on the transactions, they were not read, said the officer.

The woman’s bank told her that the card, which was not working, belonged to a woman from Gujarat and was blocked. She then realized that the man who had met her at the ATM exchanged her card with the blocked one.

She has filed an complaint with the police which are on the lookout for the man.

Advocate, cyber law, Vicky Shah said, “The liability is completely of the customer. She should not have trusted the stranger. The bank will not take responsibility for the fraud. If she wanted to take assistance, she should have approached the branch’s official in case of any doubt. She should have refrained from taking help from strangers.”

Imposter promises to unlock card, dupes man of ₹18K

A 71-year-old man was duped of Rs18,000 by an imposter who took details of the victim’s ATM card on the pretext of unblocking it. The incident took place last month when the senior citizen, a retired government employee, received a phone call, said the police. The caller, who posed as a an executive from the man’s bank, informed him that his card had been blocked.

The senior citizen told the caller that he would check with his bank next day why his card has been blocked. The imposter further told the man that there was no need to visit the bank as they had an online facility to check the status of the card. He gave his card details to the caller, which led to the loss. Vicky Shah, a cyber law expert, said, “If it is found that the imposter was using a SIM card issued on forged documents then the telecom service provider could also be made a party to the case.”