Bank officer in Kalahandi loses ₹30k to cyber crooks

Bhubaneswar: A bank officer in Kalahandi district has allegedly been duped by scamsters and lost Rs 30,000 last week. The incident has left the banking community red faced as they have been sensitising customers about safe transactions and cautioning them about cyber threats.
Rabindra Nanda, who is a manager with Indian Overseas Bank at Bhawanipatna, lodged a complaint with the cyber crime and economic offences (CC&EO) police station in the district a few days ago. Nanda alleged that some miscreants fraudulently withdrew Rs 30,023 in three transactions — Rs 10,000 each in two phases and Rs 10,023 in the last phase — from his account on December 31, 2021. Immediately after receiving the transaction alerts through SMS on his phone about suspicious withdrawals, Nanda blocked his debit card.
Nanda told the police that he verified the transactions and came to know that the miscreants fraudulently withdrew the money from an ATM in Kolkata. “The banker claimed that he was in possession of his debit card and did not share his PIN or other details with anyone. We are investigating the case,” an officer of the CC&EO police station said.
Nanda denied having clicked any phishing mail or link. “I did not receive any suspicious mail or link. Nor did I ever share my card related details with anyone. I strongly suspect cyber crooks might have cloned my debit card and gained access to my PIN. Using the cloned card in an ATM in Kolkata, they stole cash from my account,” Nanda said.
Last month, unidentified cyber criminals fraudulently withdrew Rs 10.10 lakh from the account of the wife of a senior IPS officer.
It must be noted that ATM related frauds, especially fraudulent withdrawal of cash, have been rising in the state. As per the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), at least 204 such cases were reported in the state in 2018, the number going up to 331 and 362 in 2019 and 2020, respectively.
Debit and credit card related cheatings, too, have increased alarmingly during the period. As many as 13, 50 and 132 such frauds were reported in 2018, 2019 and 2020.