A police constable posted in Mandya became the latest victim of a phishing fraud. Posing as executives of a nationalised bank, fraudsters called the victim seeking details of his bank account on the pretext of confirming the details to upgrade his account.
The gullible constable shared the details, including the PIN of his debit card, only to realise that Rs. 40,000 was debited from his account within minutes. He immediately filed a complaint on Monday. A case was booked by the Cyber Crime police.
Upon investigating, they traced the phone number to Bihar. Further probe revealed that the fraudsters had made around 3,000 such calls to people across the country. “We are trailing the money,” a senior police officer said.
Using similar modus operandi, the fraudsters had duped a retired magistrate and made away with Rs. 10,000, he said.
The fraudsters had even called a bank manager, but disconnected after the manager demanded to know their identity.
Superintendent of Police (Cyber Crime) D.C. Rajappa said people should not entertain such calls since no bank executives are authorised to seek account details. “If a person is seeking such details, he is a fraud. Such incidents should be brought to the notice of the police,” he said.
