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Do not share credit, debit card PIN, say Hyderabad cops

In over 100 cases reported last year, fraudsters pretended to be bank officers

Hyderabad: People should never share their debit and credit cards details with any caller claiming to be a customer care executive from any bank.

In over 100 cases reported last year, fraudsters pretended to be bank officers and collected Personal Identification Numbers (PIN) and One-Time Passwords from the victims and emptied their accounts.

The callers claimed that they needed the details to update the debit cards.

Among those who fell to the fraudsters was a senior journalist with a vernacular newspaper, who got a call while he was driving to office. The caller mentioned some details and asked for his debit card number, name on the card, PIN and OTP as well.

“I was in a hurry, and when the caller gave me details of my account, I was convinced. He said he was going to update my debit card and I gave him the details,” he said

“Immediately I started getting messages regarding transaction details from my account. The caller had started purchasing expensive items from different websites,” he said.

He approached the bank but the officials told him that they do not ask customers for account details. He has now gone to the police.

CCS cyber crime inspector V.P. Tiwari, who is investigating the case, said, “The PIN and OTP should be secret at all costs. The user should never share it with anyone.”

The police still hasn’t figured out how callers get the basic details like phone number, bank account number and name of the customers. A few cops suspect that the fraudsters might have hacked into the database of banks while some bank employees may have colluded with them. When contacted, a bank official refused to speak on the matter.

( Source : dc )
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