The police are investigating three separate incidents of online fraud that took place last week. In all cases, the victims had shared their OTPs with conmen.
In one incident, a conman allegedly duped a 37-year-old private firm employee of ₹1.2 lakh in a job scam. The victim, Deepika V., a resident of Hulimavu who was looking for a job, had uploaded her resume on a job site last month. Soon after, she received a call from a man claiming to be an executive with the site and informed her that she had to pay ₹10 every month as a fee to upload her resume.
“The man shared a website link to make the payment, which she did,” said a police officer. However, after she paid a nominal fee, she got an alert from her bank that ₹1.2 lakh had been withdrawn from her account. The victim, shocked to see the transaction alerts, called the platform and registered a complaint with the police last Thursday.
In her complaint, she said that the executive called her back and promised to reimburse the amount. By then, the woman had alerted her bank and blocked her account, but he reportedly called her the next day, seeking an OTP number of her account to transfer the amount. The Hulimavu police have taken up a case under the Information Technology Act, 2000.
Credit card scam
In another online fraud, a conman duped a marketing executive of a private firm of ₹84,000 under the pretext of upgrading his credit limit. The victim, G. Hemadri, filed a complaint with the Chennammanakere Achukattu police on Thursday.
According to the police, the accused identified himself as Shreyas Sharma, and claimed to be an executive of a private bank where Hemadri had a credit card and bank account. He offered to increase his credit limit. Hemadri agreed to this and Sharma initiated a transaction, asking him to share an OTP he received. “Soon after sharing the OTP, the marketing executive received an alert saying that ₹84,000 has been debited from his account.
Buyer beware
In yet another case, a 27-year-old private firm employee lost ₹73,000 to a conman who offered to sell her a second-hand scooter and withdrew the money from her bank account after she gave him details and an OTP. The victim Bhavya Srivatsava, filed a complaint with Bommanahalli police on Friday. “She said that she saw an advertisement on an online site about the sale of a second-hand scooter and contacted the owner. The accused, Satish, agreed to the sale for a sum of ₹13,000 and promised to deliver the two-wheeler to her address.
He sent a photo of a courier receipt to her mobile phone, following which she transferred ₹13,000 to his account. However, he managed to convince her that the amount had not been credited into his account and got her to share her bank details and an OTP when he initiated a second transaction on her behalf. “As soon as she shared the OTP, the accused withdrew ₹60,000 from her account . The victim suspected something was amiss and tried calling Satish only to find that the number was not reachable,” said the police who have taken up a case based on her complaint.
We have noticed a rise in online scams, and urge people not to share bank account details, account numbers and OTPs with anyone, said a senior police official.
