Ten minutes after Ayesha Rizvi (name changed), a government employee, hung her phone after talking to a ‘State Bank of India representative’, she got an SMS saying Rs. 15,000 was deducted from her bank account, from some unidentified IP address in Delhi.
Her error? She shared 12 digits of her debit card with the man who claimed to be an SBI officer, who had told her that if she did not give her details, her debit card would be blocked permanently.
“She is among dozens of people who have lost money to hackers. In the absence of awareness, many people are still getting duped,” said Jinendra Khanagavi, Additional Superintendent of Police.
He told The Hindu that such cases are increasing happening in districts of north Karnataka such as Vijayapura, Belagavi, Kalaburagi and Bidar.
Informing that he receives at least four to five similar complaints every month, Mr. Khanagavi said that the prime target of cons were Hindi speakers.
“The reason is simple, most of the people involved in the racket are from Bihar, Jharkhand and Chattisgharh, and are conversant in Hindi,” he said.
Despite banks urging their customers to never share account details with any unauthorised person, particularly on the phone, in the absence of adequate awareness, people tend to offer details to swindlers and lose money.
He said that other methods of cheating are by sending SMSes to customers that they have won a lottery of a huge sum, asking them to send a small amount as processing fee. “Please also not respond to any such messages as no one offers huge sums of money to unknown persons without a reason,” he said.
Things to remember
1. Never share account details with any =one.
2. If you have shared information by mistake, call the bank immediately and block the debit card.
3. Do not respond to any SMS that claims that the customer has won a lottery.
4. Get SMS alerts from your bank activated on your mobile phone to keep track of any transaction.
