Mumbai: 2 SoBo women targeted by phishers on phone, over Rs 2L lost collectively

A wellknown jewellery designer Malvika Vasvani from South Mumbai became the target of cyber fraud last week after a phishing caller hacked into her Bank of Baroda account She has registered an FIR with Cuffe Parade policeSudha Malik believed the caller especially because she had submitted her documents to the bank recently Representation picIn her statement Vasvani has said ldquoThe unknown person called on my motherrsquos number He pretended to be calling from Airtelrsquos office He identified himself as Verma He said that he has to update the credit card of my Bank of Baroda accountrdquoAn officer said Vasvani was given a link and asked to fill a form for which she paid R13 as a convenience fee ldquoShe received a One Time Password OTP after filling in the details Then she was asked to add the details of her credit card and account on the link The moment she added that along with the OTP her credit card got debited by Rs 30000 When she confronted the caller he disconnected the callrdquo said an officer attached to Cuffe Parade police stationIn another case of phishing call a womanrsquos three bank accounts were targeted wherein the phone phisher siphoned off nearly Rs 2 lakh Complainant Sudha Malik told midday that she had given her complaint to Cuffe Parade police in October last year but the cops registered an FIR only last weekldquoThe caller told me that he is calling from Bank of Baroda MConnect and identified himself as Deepak Verma He told me that Bank of Baroda is merging with Vijaya Bank and my Know Your Customer KYC needs to be updatedrdquo the complainant the wife of the owner of Malik Architecture Kamal Malik saidldquoIn a bid to gain my confidence he told me that I donrsquot need to visit the bank as it is not safe for me to step out amid the pandemic He gave me a PIN number and told me that it will take around six to 24hrs to activate it But he asked for my old PIN so that the new PIN can be generated I thought he was a genuine caller from my bank as hardly 10 days before the incident I had submitted copies of my PAN card Aadhaar card etcrdquo she addedldquoAfter I gave him my old PIN number he made five transactions from three bank accounts He siphoned off nearly Rs 2 lakhrdquo she addedldquoSoon after the FIR was registered the fraudster again called and asked me to withdraw the FIR He told me that if I withdraw the FIR he will credit my bank account with the same amount he has cheated me of but he needed my bank account details I refused to entertain him this timerdquo Malik saidldquoI suspect that Bank of Baroda leaked my information from its Cuffe Parade branch where I had submitted my PAN Card and Aadhaar card in the last one year The police must investigate this thoroughlyrdquo she said5No of transactions made from Sudha Malikrsquos 3 bank accounts