Informing that the cyber crime cell has cracked a few fraud cases spirtiting away money from the accounts of the bank customers through manipulation of the ATMs, SSP Special Task Force (STF) P Renuka Devi said while addressing the mediapersons in Dehradun on Wednesday that the cyber police station had received 81 complaints related to bank fraud cases between September 1 to October 31, 2016.
She disclosed that ATM fraud cases are happening frequently as regards online shopping, recharging and money transfer. She asked those who suppose that they are cheated to lodge complaints immediately after the discovery of the fraud. “The possibility of recovering money lost to the frauds are high in case the complaints are lodged promptly,” she said, adding that the cell has been able to return Rs 9,99,837 to the customers between September 1 to October 31, 2016.
She advised the people to provide the copy of their passbooks to the cyber police stations or nearby police stations after updating them to enable them to recover the money fast.
She advised the people to exercise caution while withdrawing money from ATMs. “ It has been noticed that the thugs install skimmer device at the ATM machines where you swipe your ATM cards. As you enter your PIN the swindlers manage to get access of the PINs through camera. With the help of skimmer and camera, they create ATM clone and withdraw the money from clone ATMs between 2345 hour to .30 hours, taking advantage of the ATMs being deserted during the midnight hours,” she added.
She asked them to be cautious while pressing the ATM passwords. Besides, she asked them to change the PIN at regular intervals. “Be careful against seeking others’ help while withdrawing money from ATM and don’t allow others to stand behind you while withdrawing money,” the cyber cell officer said.
She also asked them to be wary of the mobile calls coming from unknown numbers. “It happens that someone posing himself as a SBI official asks you to disclose the ATM number, warning that the ATM service would turn dysfunctional for you unless you link your account number with the Adahar card number.
You must be doubly cautious not to part with your number with anybody else,” she warned.