Over 2000 SBI Credit Card Holders Duped Of Rs 5 Cr, Police Arrests 30 People Including The Mastermind

The Cyber Crime Branch of the Cyberabad Police on July 8 arrested 30 people including 22 telecallers in New Delhi for duping over 2,000 SBI credit card holders for over Rs five crores. Reportedly, most of those who have been arrested were women, who carried out the crime in the guise of sending gifts, thereby, obtaining card details from each of the SBI customers who have been duped.

Those arrested were produced before a local court in Delhi which directed the 22 telecallers to appear before the Station House Officer of the Cyber Crimes Police Station on July 23.

According to media reports, Cyberabad Police Commissioner V C Sajjanar said that the mastermind of the crime, Vijay Kumar Sharma has also been arrested. Moreover, he added that the police began an investigation after they received complaints that people posing as SBI credit card division staff called up customers, only to collect their card details and carry transactions online.

How was the fraud carried out?

The News Minute reported that one Mrudula Koduri, Assistant Manager, SBI Cards and Payments Services reached out to the cyber crime branch in June 2018. Soon after the telecallers posed as SBI staff took the customer’s card details, they started noticing transactions worth Rs 8,500 were being deducted from each of the credit card holder’s accounts.

The police informed that the fraudsters carried out these transactions from the last week of February 2018 onwards through a website (www.jayyshree.com) in the name of a firm, Jay Shree Distributors. When the police learnt that the victims did not carry out any transaction with the firm, the police further probed into the matter.

Later it was found that the firm was a cloth shop owned by one Sandeep Bajaj at Ramgopalpet, Secunderabad who was in debt. The police at a press conference on July 11 said that Bajaj was approached by the mastermind, Vijay Kumar Sharma, who is a known fraudster to the Delhi police and has been previously arrested in 2017 for cheating bank customers.

Sharma partnered with Sapphire Business Solutions, a Direct Sales Agency (DSA) based in New Delhi to carry out the transactions, where the co-owners of the agency along with Sharma hired 22 telecallers. They then gave the telecallers an incentive of Rs 800 for trapping the victims and procuring their card details.

Reportedly, once the transactions were carried out, Bajaj would then transfer the amount to Sharma’s account. Sharma retained 15% of the amount and credited the rest to Sapphire Business Solutions.

The Logical Indian Take

We urge people not to share their OTPs with anybody over the phone. These are the common ways of scamming people. In a similar incident, The Logical Indian has also reported on how a woman was duped after sharing OTP with a person pretending to be a bank official.

In a world where most of our transactions are becoming online, it is crucial for the users to evaluate the risks associated with it. Banks issue specific guidelines about keeping your information secure while making online transactions.

For starters, card details, including that of the name on the card should be kept confidential. This is followed by the CVV number, the Pin and the OTP numbers which are crucial for any online transaction.

Also Read: After Sharing OTP 28 Times With Fraudster, Woman Duped Of Nearly Rs 7 Lakh