An industrialist in Belagavi recently fell victim to a sophisticated mobile phone call fraud, resulting in a loss of Rs. Rs. 38 lahks.
According to police sources, the owner of the Company received a call from a fraudulent person, who identified himself as Major Kuldeep Singh of the Indian Army. The caller claimed that the Army had a requirement for security cabins to be made to their standards and that there were certain terms and conditions that had to be met in order for the vendor to receive the work order.
One of these conditions was that the vendor had to pay a security deposit to the Army before the work order could be issued. The vendor was assured that the deposit amount, as well as the work amount, would be paid back in full upon completion of the order.
Unfortunately, the vendor fell for the scam and instructed his finance officer to pay Rs. 38 lakh to seven different bank accounts through online transactions on January 11. After the payment was made, the fraudulent person stopped taking calls and the mobile was found to be switched off. A complaint was filed with the Cyber Economic and Narcotics Crime Police Station in Belagavi.
In Belagavi the following have been reported-
OLX-related, OTP-related, Facebook fake profiles, QR code, Gift scams, Tour fake scams, Fake websites, Food Delivery, Herbal medicines, ticket booking scams, fake customer care online scams, and so on.
How to protect yourself from Online scam
Always remember that your AADHAR, PAN Card and Bank Account Information (Account Number, Debit/Credit Card Number) are private information, DO NOT SHARE the same with anyone
OTP mechanism is used as a second password in all cases, Hence do not share the same, only you are supposed to enter your OTP, never provide the same over the phone
https://cybersafe.gov.in/Cybersafe/index.html – CyberSafe provides this verification facility for potential victims of cyber frauds. (These identifiers were uploaded by Law Enforcement Agencies)
Before you accept any collect requests or enter your UPI pin, be sure to read through the entire screen. Unfortunately, some banks are not always reliable when it comes to SMS notifications of transactions, so it’s important to enable multiple modes of notifications, such as email. When family or friends request money through text, social media, or UPI apps, always verify the message’s authenticity by calling or meeting in person.
Familiarize yourself with all the features available in your UPI app, such as checking your bank balance, raising complaints, and viewing your transaction history. If you know any senior citizens or adolescents who are more vulnerable to UPI scams, be sure to educate them on the risks. Additionally, it’s a good idea to have a separate account for expenses and salary credits, and only link the expense account to the UPI application to protect your salary account.
For the best results, use only one UPI application to keep your accounting clear. Additionally, consider installing an e-passbook application to monitor your transactions regularly. If you’re travelling abroad, it’s a good idea to temporarily deactivate your UPI applications. Some banks allow you to set limits for UPI transactions, while others have a daily set limit by design.
For some this amount could be entire life’s saving. When they have the account code(in this case it was 7 account codes), why cant the police collaborate with bank officials and catch the culprit. After all bank gets KYC done every 6 months or so and keep the customer data up to date!!
OR this whole KYC is a eyewash?