After phishing, police officers in Chennai have warned against a newer, ingenious technique of fraud ‘vishing.’
Already, several lakhs of rupees have been siphoned off the accounts of senior citizens in the city.
The police commissioner’s office here has recently received numerous complaints on the fraud and a thorough probe is under way.
According to police sources, the gang, suspected to be operating from Delhi, has access to bank accounts and card details of numerous customers mainly of private sector banks. Armed with the details, a gang member reportedly contacts a victim on the mobile.
Businessman S.K. Prakash from Adyar, one of over 20 Chennaiites who has fallen prey to the vishing fraud, elaborates that the caller provides perfect bank account.
“I received the call on Tuesday from a man who claimed to be a representative of the ICICI Bank of which I have a credit card. I questioned the authenticity of the caller, and he responded that he would send a confirmatory password on my mobile. I got it too, in a few seconds,” he explained.
Now convinced, Mr. Prakash read out the One Time Password (OTP), as the caller claimed it to be standard bank procedure to annul credit/debit cards prone to hacking, and issue fresh, secure cards for customers.
“Within minutes, over Rs. 7000 had been paid using my credit card, even while I was on the phone with the conman. I frantically tried to cancel the transactions and block further use of my card,” he added.
Banks have said they cannot compensate customers for losses on such transactions.
