Source: Times of India | Image Courtesy: indianexpress
Madhav Limaye, 72, was in for a rude shock when he was unsuspectingly robbed of ₹ 38,000 within 20 minutes of receiving a seemingly genuine call from his bank.
On November 12, Limaye, who lives in Andheri, Mumbai, with his wife, received a call at 10 am from a man who identified himself as an RBI official, seeking verification of his ATM cards. Not one to share his card details with anyone, Limaye agreed to answer his queries only after being convinced of the callers supposed identity.
“The caller posed questions with confidence and gave me the impression that he knew about my accounts”, he said. Limaye has been operating accounts at the Bank of Baroda and the Bank of India for ten years now. He shared the card number and the CVV number of both his cards with the caller.
Over the next 20 minutes, he received a series of text messages regarding monetary amounts ranging from ₹ 200 to ₹ 999 being withdrawn from his accounts. Immediately, he called the bank customer care services and had both his cards blocked, but he had already lost a significant amount of ₹ 38,000 by then.
He reported to the Andheri police station. However, having been made using a private number, the call was not easy to trace. He was directed to the cyber cell, where he was informed action could be taken only after referral from the local police. Finally the FIR was registered after 2 days. So far, no arrests have been made. It is a shame that a senior citizen has been robbed and put through such distress.
The Logical Indian urges all its readers to be vigilant and not divulge crucial details over phone calls like these, no matter how apparently genuine they are.
