Daily, we come across incidents where innocent people face cyber fraud by falling prey to the dirty tactics of scammers. Most of the time, individuals are not able to get their complaints lodged in time, or they fail to follow the correct procedure and end up losing any chance of getting their lost money back. Today, we shall cover the experience of a couple who got conned by scammers, but by following the correct procedure, they were able to get their money back.
The couple from Kanpur received an OTP on their mobile one morning with the text of a transfer of Rs 50000 to an account, followed by more text messages with different amounts. Overall, the total amount reached 11 lakh Indian Rupees.
Being a vigilant user, the couple’s first action was to change their bank’s password. They had a current account with ICICI Bank, but to their surprise, the transactions were still being carried out, and it appeared that the scammer had access to the OTPs along with the account credentials. The couple then reached out to the bank, informing them of the incident. Bank personnel followed their procedure and asked the couple to file the dispute form with the required details, and then immediately, the bank blocked any further transactions from the couple’s bank account. During this exploit window, the couple had received five OTP messages, and the amount transferred was close to 11 lakhs. The couple then also filed a formal complaint at the cyber cell number 1930, which assisted them in getting the complaint lodged at the nearest cyber police station.
The accounts into which the amount was transferred were then traced, and multiple online purchases were noticed on e-commerce platforms. The cyber police further reached out to the e-commerce vendor and informed them about the entire fraud, after which these transactions were cancelled, and the amount of approximately 5 lakh value was refunded to the couple in a few days. The police also noted that the scammers had premium subscriptions of these e-commerce platforms and had made purchases for same-day delivery. Another worthwhile point was the timing of the scam. They chose a particular day as the city had bypolls and all the banks were closed. However, the police is carrying out their investigations, and further details are awaited, but the immediate actions of the couple helped them recover half of the lost amount.
Incidents like these are common nowadays and can happen to anyone. So, here are the steps that you need to take in such a case:-
- Change your bank credentials, and block your credit and debit cards immediately.
- Inform your bank about the incident and, if required, file the dispute form.
- Inform the cyber crime cell at 1930, after which they shall connect you to the nearest station for further action.
