Fmr K’taka MLA loses money in banking fraud: ‘Trusted caller because of his English’

“While I would have never shared the CVV, since the caller said that he needed OTP for verification, I gave it to him," Lobo said.
Fmr K’taka MLA loses money in banking fraud: ‘Trusted caller because of his English’
Fmr K’taka MLA loses money in banking fraud: ‘Trusted caller because of his English’
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In the latest case of tele-banking fraud, former Mangaluru South MLA JR Lobo has become the victim of con man, losing Rs 49,000 from his account after sharing his bank details with a caller who posed as a bank official.

On Thursday, Lobo received a call on his mobile phone from a man who introduced himself as an employee of State Bank of India. He told Lobo that his account will be frozen, as he has not completed his KYC details. Though Lobo said he responded saying that he will contact the branch, the caller prodded that same transaction can be carried out on the phone.

“Of course I was suspicious, so I ensured that I did not give him too many details, especially the CVV. But perhaps I was overcome by his command over English and the etiquette he followed, similar to that of routine call centres," he said.

Nevertheless, withholding the CVV, the 65-year-old leader said he shared his debit card number with the caller. Later the caller told Lobo to read out the One Time Password (OTP) number sent to his phone by the bank. “While I would have never shared the CVV, since the caller said that he needed OTP for verification, I gave it to him," he said.

Trying to push his luck further, the caller also asked the Congress leader if he had any other bank details. "It was then that I suspected fraud, and refused to divulge details," the Congress leader said. However, as soon as the former KAS officer hung-up the call, Lobo received an alert that Rs 49,000 was deducted from his account. The caller had apparently used the One-Time-Password sent to Lobo's cellphone to bypass the bank’s security.

The former KAS officer has lodged a complaint at the jurisdictional Kadri police station under IT Act and is awaiting for follow-up, he said.

Karnataka stood third in credit/debit cards and internet banking frauds in 2016-17. According to RBI, frauds totaling to Rs 9.16 crore in 221 cases were committed in Karnataka in 2016-17. The reported cases are where the amount lost is more than Rs 1 lakh. Maharashtra stands first with an amount of Rs 12.10 crore lost to online frauds.

Story by www.storyinfinity.com (Subs and Scribes Media Ventures LLP). 

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