This shocking fact came to light recently: Bank account and credit / debit card and mobile number details for 5,000 accounts was sold for only Rs. 2,500 to vishing fraudsters by a Delhi-based gang.
On April 28, a special team of the Central Crime Branch busted a gang in Uttam Nagar in West Delhi operating an illegal bank call centre targeting credit and debit card customers throughout the country. With recruits speaking various regional languages, the suspects posed as bank representatives and targeted Chennai’s bank card users by conversing in Tamil. By mentioning the card details and CVV numbers, they tricked customers into revealing the One Time Password (OTP) received after using the victims’ cards to transfer cash to Airtel Money, a mobile wallet application. The gang members were arrested and brought to Chennai
Investigators say the gang is only the tip of the iceberg and there are numerous vishing fraudsters operating with similar modus operandi in Delhi and possibly in parts of Tamil Nadu. “We have information on a gang that sells bank customer data including customer name, card number and mobile phone number of nationalised and private sector banks to vishing groups and similar fraudsters via online or personal delivery with data stored in a pen-drive. The data has undoubtedly been lifted from bank data bases through insiders. The roots for such scams are these bank insiders and tracking them down is a herculean task,” said an investigating officer attached to the CCB team.
With numerous complaints on vishing scams and loss of money from bankcards pouring in from mid-2014, the CCB team tracked the cellphone numbers from which the suspects spoke to their victims. “The siphoned sum was transferred to the Airtel Money app. Verifications of the numbers led us to parts of Delhi but none of the numbers were authentic. Later we discovered a transaction from the app to an ICICI bank account of Deepkumar (33), a SIM card dealer in Uttam Nagar who was part of the vishing gang,” the officer added.
Deepkumar and his aide Praveen Kumar Kashyap (32), also a card dealer, were known to have supplied SIM cards for use at the illegal call centres of vishing gangs. Investigations unearthed that the duo obtained additional photographs and ID proof documents from genuine customers buying a SIM card and used them for bogus cards later used by scamsters.
Ashraf Ali (26) who ran a call centre from 2013 was arrested along with his aides Indrajith (35), a native of Dindigul, in-charge of TN operations and Sunny (26) who transferred the siphoned money from the app to bank accounts which was later withdrawn. Chennai police on Monday took custody of the trio.
Bangalore police recently took Deepkumar and Praveen Kumar from the custody of city police as the duo is wanted for vishing crimes committed on many Bangalore residents.
Vishing: The fraudulent practice of extracting details of someone's bank card or account illegally via phone. The word is derived from a combination of voice and phishing
On April 28, Central Crime Branch bust a vishing gang operating from West Delhi making it the first arrest of its kind
Five fraudsters arrested were wanted by various State police teams including Karnataka and Gujarat police.
Investigators believe numerous vishing gangs still operate even in remote parts of Tamil Nadu
Vishing complaints in Chennai
2014, nearly 500
2015: over 300
Estimated loss: over Rs. 50 lakhs
Many victims are senior citizens
Fraudsters ran an illegal call centre to target credit and debit card holders across the country. They used Airtel Money to transfer the cash from the victims, then direct it to their banks accounts before withdrawing
City police have advised bank customers not to fall prey to phone calls as their banks never make outbound calls
