TURA, Jan 5: If you get a call or a message from a WhatsApp number seeking bank details, be watchful. These are online scammers who are out there to swindle you out of your savings.
From fake call warnings to dupe you to cloning credit and debit card by hacking ATM machines using devices, the latest ploy of scammers is to approach mobile users through WhatsApp claiming to be army personnel based in inhospitable altitudes and seeking debit card details for delivery payment.
The targets, this time, appear to be restaurants, cafes and food joints that accept online food orders.
This Christmas, at the peak of business season, one well-known food joint in Tura received a huge order for a takeout by a man claiming to be an army personnel posted somewhere in the snowy reaches of Ladakh. “The order amounting to several thousand was placed by a man on our WhatsApp number for his son’s birthday. He said that the order would be received by his wife and asked for my bank details. Later, he contacted me to say that the network is poor at his location where he is posted due to the altitude and cannot transfer from his account to mine. He then asked me to send him a photo of either side of my debit card to which I became suspicious,” said the restaurant owner. He contacted his bank in Tura about the strange demand of the caller and was immediately cautioned against giving it as this was a new method being used by scammers to falsely transact money.
The number used by the imposter (9707468125) was also identified on Truecaller as a scam number.
Despite this, the scammer has meticulously put up details on the internet, impersonating himself as an army personnel.
“Once they have the debit card and the CVV numbers of the card, they will quickly undertake a large transaction using its details and the money from the account will disappear in no time. Anyone asking for an OTP, CVV or card details is looking at scamming,” warned a bank official in Tura.
When the imposter once again called the café owner, asking for the credentials of the card and questioning the delay, the latter exposed him. “When I told him that his identity has been revealed, he laughed and ended the call,” said the restaurateur.