Tricked by a fake KYC call, man loses Rs 1,17,999

Hameed Ashraf | NT

Bengaluru: Everyday Cyber cells across the state record new cases of online fraud.

While in some cases the criminals are tracked and the money is recovered, the victims in most cases never get their money back.

In a recently reported case, an employee of a citybased private firm was cheated by a cybercriminal who posed as a bank executive wanting to update his KYC details over a phone call.

As soon as the victim, Shankarappa, shared the One Time PINs (OTPs), the hacker stole Rs 1,17,999 from his bank account.

Speaking to News Trail, the victim said that he received a call on December 11 and the caller introduced himself as an executive of HDFC Bank.

"He told me that I need to update my KYC or my Debit Card will get blocked in a few days. However, he offered to help me do it over the phone call and took Aadhaar details from me," the victim said.

The victim alleged that he received multiple OTPs throughout the call which he kept on sharing to the caller as per his requests. Finally the caller assured the victim that his KYC had been updated.

The next day, the victim received several messages of amounts being withdrawn from his bank account. Shocked, he approached the Attibele Police Station and filed a complaint.

"The messages that I received revealed that the fraudsters have availed a loan on my name and have withdrawn Rs 1,17,999 over five consecutive transactions from my account," the victim said.

The Cyber Crime police from Attibele Station said that they have put the accused on tracker.