Jain University Pro-Vice-Chancellor reveals bank OTP, loses Rs 2 lakh

KOCHI: None other than Dr J. Letha, the Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Jain University (Kochi campus) and former VC of Cusat, has lost nearly Rs 2 Lakh in an online banking fraud case. She reportedly revealed an OTP to a call made in the guise of a bank official and soon Rs 1,92,499 was withdrawn from her account in the Cusat branch of the State Bank of India on Friday.

The incident happened around 10.30 a.m. when she received a call from a person who introduced himself as a bank official asking for One Time Password (OTP), usually used for cash transactions, sent to her phone number.
The man claimed that he was calling on the directive of the Reserve Bank of India and told her that her debit card was blocked and that an OTP was required to issue a new chip-attached debit card. She reportedly transferred the two OTPs to him after the call.

Following this, she got two messages from the bank confirming a debit of Rs 1,92,499 from her account through two transactions. She immediately lodged a complaint with city police commissioner who directed the Kalamassery police to register a case and probe it.

According to sources, the police suspect the culprits acquired her card number or account number to commit the fraud. “In this case, they got the OTP to unlock the internet banking account and transferred the money. As it is an online operation, we can’t expect culprits to be in Kerala. They can be anywhere in the world. However, an investigation is underway to trace the user of the device from which the account was logged in,” an official said.