Bhubaneswar, June 23: Never ever entertain phone calls seeking the 16-digit number of your debit or credit cards if the caller identifies himself as a bank officer. Fraudsters are making such calls to cheat gullible people.
ATM fraud has emerged as a major concern in the city with many being robbed of their hard earned money.
Last Thursday, a man was cheated of Rs 8,000 after he revealed his ATM card number to a caller who claimed to be speaking from Mumbai to inquire about his bank account.
"The caller told me that my ATM card was due to expire shortly following which it would be blocked. He told he could help me out and asked for my 16-digit ATM card number. I gave it to him and within a few minutes I received two messages on my cell phone that Rs 8,000 had been spent using my ATM card," said Asit, a resident of Old Town.
Police said the fraudsters tend to make such calls mostly during morning hours when people are generally sleepy and the caller takes the benefit of their semi-conscious state of mind.
"The fraudsters choose Saturdays, when banks work half day, and Sundays for making these calls. The callers tell their victims that with banks closed they would not be able to visit their respective branches to seek help. Hence gullible people tender to reveal their ATM details," said a cop.
The police said that in most cases fraudsters have been cheating people of small amounts so that the victims would be reluctant to visit police stations. "The fraudsters get hold of a list of phone numbers with names. They address the victims by name to lend authenticity to what they are doing and seek account details," said a police official.
Sources said that around a dozen of such cases have been registered in different police stations but a large number of cases may have gone unreported. "All the complainants have alleged that they were cheated of cash amount between Rs 4,000 to Rs 10,000," said the cop.
The police suspect the involvement of a gang from Jharkhand. In November last year, commissionerate police had busted an ATM racket in Jharkhand and had arrested one person.
The police had found that the accused used to transfer the victims' money to their SIM cards through e-wallet applications and subsequently spend the money on mobile recharge and online shopping.
Deputy commissioner of police Satyabrata Bhoi said that they had been asking the bank authorities to alert their customers not to disclose their ATM details over phone. "Besides, we have directed all the police stations to register such fraud cases," said Bhoi.
On Tuesday, police commissioner R.P. Sharma reviewed the security at banks here and issued several directives.
GUARD IT
♦ Police commissioner R.P. Sharma directed banks in Bhubaneswar to deploy security guards at ATM kiosks and install CCTVs at their parking lots
♦ Police asked banks to send text messages in Odia to customers urging them not to disclose their 16-digit card number to anyone
"At last year's meeting with bankers we had asked them to deploy security guards at ATM kiosks. However, there are several unguarded ATMs in the city. So, we have again asked them to deploy guards at all ATMs," Sharma said.
