Mumbai woman loses ₹69K to debit card fraud; OTP, PIN not used

Police suspect it to be a case of card cloning or data leak.

A 40-year-old woman recently lost ₹69,000 to debit card fraud when a fraudster managed to transfer the money without her receiving a one-time password (OTP) or having to share the card’s PIN.

A 40-year-old woman recently lost ₹69,000 to debit card fraud when a fraudster managed to transfer the money without her receiving a one-time password (OTP) or having to share the card’s PIN. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The DN Nagar police had registered a first information report (FIR) on August 5.

Police suspect it to be a case of card cloning or data leak.

According to the police, the complainant Meghna Butani is a resident of Andheri (West) and works as a celebrity make-up artist. On August 3, Butani had received four messages on her mobile phone informing her that a total of ₹69,000 was transferred out of her bank account.

She then called her bank’s customer care number and asked them to block her card so it could not be misused further. Her bank asked her to approach the local police.

“It was a bit difficult to get the first information report [FIR] registered. We were sent back by the police. But our bank’s official called up the police and requested them to lodge an FIR as without it they would not refund my money,” said Butani.

The complainant said two years back, she had lost ₹2,000 in a similar fraud and had managed to get a refund. An officer from DN Nagar police station said, “We are in touch with the bank to trace the stolen funds.”