Police close 680 fake bank accounts connected to vishing

Fraudsters indulge in identity theft by posing as Income Tax officers or customer care officers from banks

FILE - In this Feb. 27, 2013, file photo illustration, hands type on a computer keyboard in Los Angeles. As tax day nears, phishing season is in full swing. The IRS says it’s seen a “surge†in phishing emails in 2016. And thieves are also baiting special hooks for payroll and human resources workers, in hopes of snagging a company’s entire stash of employee information. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)

The Bengaluru cyber crime sleuths have closed 680 fake bank accounts, from January 2017, which were being used by fraudsters, who through “vishing” stole account details and money of unsuspecting people. Last year, 3,000 such accounts were closed.

Vishing, which is short for voice-based phishing, is used by identity thieves to extract information such as credit/debit card numbers and other personal details over the phone.

Fraudsters indulge in identity theft by posing as Income Tax officers or customer care officers from banks. They call people and con them into divulging their bank account or credit/debit card details and transfer the money into their bank accounts or mobile payment wallets, the police said.

Police officers claim that despite repeated instructions to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and other private and public-sector banks to tighten their Know Your Customer (KYC) rules, nothing much has been done. “Banks have now started creating awareness about vishing. It is surprising how even educated people fall prey to conmen,” added the officer.

Upon lodging a complaint in a nearby police station or a cyber-crime station, the policemen first approach the bank to start their investigation. “However, in 99.9% of the cases, the proof of identity documents submitted in the bank to open the account are fake. Similarly one can obtain a pre-paid SIM card easily and create a mobile wallet. When we reach the house tracing the documents provided to get the connection, we find it is a fake one,” said a senior police officer.

Mobile payment wallets

Off late, the police are also finding multiple mobile payment wallets using one bank account. This defeats the purpose of setting spend limits on the wallets to ₹20,000. “The conman will transfer a huge amount of money to different wallets and spend it or withdraw it. The RBI should not allow the transfer of money from the payment wallets into bank accounts. Unless they bring about some regulation, it will become harder to nab the miscreants,” added an officer.

Meanwhile, cyber-law experts claim that unless police starts slapping cases against banks and mobile phone companies, they will not taking KYC seriously. “It amounts to negligence if they have not verified documents provided by customers,” cyber law expert N. Vijay Shankar said.