E-Paper
With the number of online frauds on the rise, Puneker’s requested not to share OTPs
One of the major drawbacks of OTP sharing frauds is that the victim loses out on the money which is fraudulently taken from the accounts
The number of online fraud cases recorded in Pune have grown manifold in the past year. Despite continuous warnings by the banks and the crime investigating authorities, the number of frauds committed by criminals enabled by information like one time password (OTP) shared by the victims themselves is high. One of the major drawbacks of OTP sharing frauds is that the victim loses out on the money which is fraudulently taken from the accounts.
“Almost 50 per cent of the cases are caused because of OTP sharing,” said Jyotipriya Singh, deputy commissioner of police, cyber crime and economic offence wing (EOW) of Pune. “I urge the people to please not share OTP. If someone asks for the OTP, block that number,” she added.
Even as the warning is ignored by people, the effect of it is seen in the process of getting the money back into their accounts. The banks have a system to find if the OTP used, and therefore provided, and denying the refund of money.
On Friday, the cyber crime laboratory turned police station held a three-day workshop with one police sub inspector and one constable of every police station in order to reduce the number of pending complaints.
The cyber crime cell had collated a number of pending complaints received by at the local police stations in the past year. At least 801 such cases were found by the cyber crime cell. Of the 801, the verification and possible investigation of 517 cases was taken by the cyber crime cell from the local police.
“Of the 517 cases, we found 131 cases where the OTP was shared by the victims. Their money could not be returned,” said DCP Singh. Besides the 517 cases, money was returned to 22 complainants who had lost their money without sharing the OTP. A total of Rs 5,77,708 was returned during the three-day workshop. Of the remaining cases which were not taken up by the cyber crime cell, 269 cases are of job fraud, matrimonial fraud, social media-related case, hacking or loan fraud. Besides the money was returned during the three-day workshop, the cyber crime cell independently returned Rs 4,13,00,000 to the complainants through the past year.
While addressing the lack of technical know-how in local police for solving complicated cyber cases, DCP Singh added that the cyber crime cell is holding training sessions for local police personnel every Tuesday for the past three months to be able to reduce the pendency.
Once cyber crime cell becomes a nodal body, the process for which is underway, they will be able to register cases on their own instead of sending the complaints to police stations.
