Criminals call up people claiming to be calling from their bank, take their debit card details under various pretexts, use the card details to make purchases and then flee, said police. (Representational Image)
A 37-year-old homemaker from Juhu became the latest victim of vishing after losing Rs 26,000 as she provided her debit card details to a caller who claimed to be from her bank. The city has been witnessing a slew of vishing cases with at least one case every day between January and June this year, as per Mumbai police statistics.
Criminals call up people claiming to be calling from their bank, take their debit card details under various pretexts, use the card details to make purchases and then flee, said police.
In the latest case, Manju Chopra approached the D N Nagar police Saturday after realising she had been a victim of vishing. On Saturday around 11.30 am, Chopra received a call on her mobile phone from a person claiming to be calling from a leading bank. The accused asked her to provide details of her debit card for “security reasons”, an officer said.
Not suspecting anything amiss, Chopra provided the details and the One Time Password (OTP) using which the accused used the card details to make purchases of Rs 26,000. After getting a message that the money had been debited from her account, Chopra realised she had been conned.
She approached the D N Nagar police station on Saturday following which an FIR has been registered against unidentified persons. An officer from DN Nagar police station said, “We have registered an FIR on charges of cheating and sections of the Information Technology (IT) Act. We suspect the call was placed from one of the bogus call centres operating across the country from where several fraudulent calls are made on a daily basis. Investigations are on in the case.”
