The city has witnessed a surge in cases related to banking fraud. Eight cases, related to banking fraud have been registered this month. According to police sources, the accused have used same modus-operandi in all the cases. “The accused persons made phone calls to the victims, disclosing themselves as bank officials and took their ATM pin or e-banking passwords. After receiving ATM pin numbers or E-banking password, the accused has allegedly withdrawn amounts from their bank accounts,” said police sources. Similar cases had surfaced in the year 2013 and 2014 in the city.
During this year, the UT cyber-crime Department has received a total of 27 complaints in connection with banking frauds. As per the records with Chandigarh police, in January 2015, the accused have allegedly withdrawn cash of Rs12.5 lakh from the bank accounts of the city residents. So far, no arrest has been made in these cases.
In one such incident, Sudhir Kumar, a resident of Sector 44 here, reported to police that an unknown person had withdrawn amount of Rs2.5 lakh from his bank account. In another incident, Arundeep Ran Dev, resident of Sector-22 had alleged that unknown person withdrew cash of Rs29,000 from his account.
In his complaint to police, Arundeep had stated that he received a phone call from an unknown number. “The caller disclosed himself as bank official and took my ATM pin, stating that the ATM pin is required due to some security reason. The caller then dropped the call,” said Arundeep. After sometime, he received a message on his mobile, stating that a transaction of Rs2.5 lakh has been made from his bank account.
The complaints in all the matter have been registered under sections 420 (cheating) of the IPC and 66C, 66D IT Act at the cyber crime cell of Chandigarh police and further investigations are under progress.