Hyderabad cops to RBI: Make bank verification stricter

HYDERABAD: After the cybercrime case in which six fraudsters were nabbed for availing instant loans and credit cards in the name of four IT professionals who died in accidents last year, the Cyberabad police plan to write to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and banks and ask them to make the verification process stricter.
“If a person can hack into your net banking account, they can easily apply for an instant pre-approved loan and credit card with a pre-approved limit. All they have to provide is the correct phone number and e-mail address. The bank will check the CIBIL score and accordingly transfer money within minutes or maximum, hours,” said ACP cybercrime, Cyberabad, Y Srinivas Kumar.
The accused persons used the same trick to cheat over Rs 53 lakh by impersonating the deceased IT professionals, who had decent CIBIL scores. “Now applying for loans and the credit cards has become easy, as everything can be applied for online and no physical verification is required. The offenders are taking advantage of it,” said the officer.
The case came to light when a victim’s wife discovered that her dead husband’s phone number was blocked. The victim, Raghuram worked at Infosys, and had died in September last year.
“When she approached the service provider, she discovered that the same number was active on another SIM card. She grew suspicious and was approached by bank officials to clear credit card dues,” said the ACP.
According to cops, the banks need to carry out physical verification for approving loans and credit cards, and the verification procedure has to be more complex. “The banks are choosing speed over safety. They need to have stricter procedures,” said the officials.