Cyber fraudsters duped a person in Lucknow of Rs 10.50 lakh in the name of starting internet banking. The fraudsters sent a link to obtain bank related information and withdrew money from the account. Police is investigating the matter, so be careful before clicking on any unknown link.

Are you also getting repeated calls to activate internet banking? Then be careful. Internet banking will not be activated, but you will definitely get duped. Recently, a similar case has come to light in Lucknow, UP. Cyber fraudsters extorted Rs 10.50 lakh from him. Cyber fraudsters sent a link to a person to start internet banking and got him to fill in the bank related information. After this, Rs 10.50 lakh was withdrawn from the victim's bank account in several installments. The victim has filed a report at the Cyber Crime Police Station. The police is investigating.

Santosh Kumar Dwivedi, who lives in Shalimar Grand Apartment on Jopling Road in Hazratganj, has an account in PNB. He told the police that on July 14 at 10 am, he received a WhatsApp call on his mobile phone. The caller told him that if he wanted to start internet banking, he would have to make a missed call on a number. The cyber fraudster gave a mobile number to the victim. The WhatsApp DP of that mobile number had the logo of PNB. The victim thought that it must be a PNB number.

Never make the mistake of being content

The victim had to start internet banking of his PNB account, so he gave a missed call on the mobile number given by the cyber fraudster at around 10:30 in the morning. After this, a call came on the victim's mobile number at 4 pm. The caller told the victim that a link has been sent on his WhatsApp. The cyber fraudster asked him to open the link and fill in all the information asked in it. The victim opened the link and filled in all the information asked and the debit card details. The cyber fraudster deceived the victim that his internet banking will start in 24 hours. After this, 10,50,000 was debited from his savings account in four installments. On realizing the cyber fraud, he blocked the mobile phone number. After this, he complained on the cyber crime portal. The victim has lodged a report in the cyber crime police station on Friday. Police say that the matter is being investigated. You should never make the mistakes that Santosh made.

Keep these things in mind

• Do not click on any link received through unknown email, message, Whatsapp or social media . Even if the link has come from someone you know and it seems strange, confirm it with them first.
• Before you click on a link, move your mouse cursor over the link (without clicking) to see which website it leads to.
• There might be bold spelling mistakes or weird characters, which are the hallmarks of a fake website.
• Whenever banking, shopping or entering any sensitive information online, make sure the website address begins with https:// . The 's' stands for 'secure' and indicates that the connection is encrypted. There should also be a lock symbol in the URL bar.
• Use antivirus and anti-malware.
• Use two-factor authentication (2FA).

Banks never ask for personal information

Always remember that banks, government departments or any trusted organization never ask for your personal information (like bank account number, credit card number, OTP, PIN, Password, Aadhaar number) over phone calls, SMS or email.

Fraud in the name of government schemes

Not only this, fraud is also happening in the name of e-challan and government schemes. There is a need to be cautious about these too. Recently, many farmers have been cheated in the name of adding their names in PM Kisan Samman Nidhi. Fraud is also being done by sending fake links in the name of e-challan or other government schemes. Do not click on any such link. Always verify the information or make payment only by visiting official government websites (such as Parivahan.gov.in for e-challan). Apart from this, always keep the operating system and apps of mobile, computer and other devices updated. Updates often contain security patches.

File a complaint here

If you too are victims of cyber fraud, immediately call the cyber crime helpline number 1930. You can also lodge an online complaint on the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCCRP) website https://cybercrime.gov.in/. If any fraud occurs, immediately inform the bank so that the account can be frozen and further transactions can be stopped.

PC:NBT