the goan I network
PANAJI
Fraudsters are systematically exploiting loopholes in digital banking to loot unsuspecting bank customers. One common modus operandi involves the use of duplicate SIM cards and it makes it next to impossible to identify the culprits who generally operate from a distant location, Director General of Police, Muktesh Chander said on Wednesday.
With the spectre of fraud in digital banking transactions increasing with the Indian economy going more and more cashless, Dr Chander has appealed to the public to desist from sharing email IDs and telephone numbers with others and cautioned service providers to be cautions when delivering duplicate SIMs to customers.
Chander said service providers should deliver the duplicate SIMs at the residential address of the customers instead of issuing it in the hand of the applicant as cases of use of duplicate SIMs by fraudsters is on the rise. Recently, a woman from Panaji was defrauded of Rs 84,000 from her account which was transferred by fraudsters who used a duplicate SIM to get a one-time pin from the bank for the transaction.
In another case a retired judge was also robbed using such modus operandi, Dr Chander said.
Dr Chander says withdrawing money fraudulently through UPI is a trend now. What the cyber criminal needs is just the basic banking details of his prospective victim.
“Sometimes bank officials
leak the information of their clients. Criminals pay them based on the data,” Dr Chander said.
The information leaked by bank officials consists of customer’s name, address, bank account and card, PAN and mobile phone details.
The fraudsters then apply for a duplicate SIM of the target customer with forged documents and in connivance with the service provider, or otherwise, get a duplicate SIM through which the transaction is effected. As the original SIM gets blocked, the customer does not get any SMS alert of the bank transaction.
This is done basically on weekends so that it takes two days and more for the customer to complain to the service provider.
Interestingly the fraudsters try to call you on the number to verify whether the original SIM is blocked or not, Dr Chander said.
