Don’t share banking details over phone, Coimbatore police tell senior citizens

COIMBATORE: The city cybercrime police on Friday warned the senior citizens against disclosing their bank account and debit card details, pin numbers, and one-time password (OTP) to unidentified callers, who, they said, would use the information to withdraw cash from their accounts.
They said the callers would often be introducing themselves as manager of certain banks to extract the valuable information from the senior citizens, who are their prime targets.“The callers normally take their targets into confidence by promising to issue a new debit card in a week after blocking the existing one. They then collect the details,” said a police officer.
“Most of the senior citizens, who are receiving pensions from the state and Union governments, are using traditional mobile phones. Conmen collect their landline numbers from phone diaries and contact them, telling the government is planning to issue a single debit card for all the accounts. They then collect card details and CVV numbers from the targets, asking them to share the OTP received on their mobile phones,” the officer said.
Sometimes, he said, the conmen would convince the senior citizens to share the sensitive banking details by promising them to activate all the banking related services online so that they need not visit the banks during the lockdown. “We request the senior citizens not to disclose their banking details to anyone over phone.”