An 81-year-old resident of Jodhpur Park fell prey to online banking fraud and lost around Rs 2 lakh on Monday
The woman who had recently opened a bank account in a branch near her home and had been receiving confirmatory phone calls from the bank was duped of her money as one of the callers, who said he was from the bank, convinced her to share her PAN card details and her customer identity number on the pretext to update KYC.
Several elderly Kolkatans who either stay alone or have been forced to start making online transactions are vulnerable to online fraud.
In her complaint on Monday, the elderly woman told police that she had shared the details thinking that it was a call from the bank.
Soon, around Rs 2 lakh was taken out of her account.
The woman said that on Monday afternoon, while she was busy having lunch, she received a call from a person who introduced himself as the assistant branch manager of the bank in whose Jodhpur Park branch she had recently opened an account.
“The man asked for the woman’s PAN card details and her bank’s customer identity number. The elderly woman said she shared the details in good faith thinking that these would be used to update her KYC in the bank,” said an officer of Lake police station where she lodged the complaint.
The woman has also told the police that she was asked to share multiple OTPs saying those were needed to confirm her KYC.
A few minutes later, she received text messages informing her that more than Rs 1.28 lakh had been withdrawn from her account.
Perplexed, she dialled the customer care number of the bank only to be told that a total of Rs 1.97 lakh had been withdrawn from her bank account.
“Multiple transactions have been made from her bank account and money has been transferred into e-wallets and other bank accounts,” the police officer said.
A case has been initiated at Lake police station to probe the fraud.
The police said a large section of the people who fall prey to online frauds in the city
are elderly Kolkatans who are either dependent on others to carry out online transactions or are not well versed in the online mode of transactions.
“For example, in this case, sharing details of PAN card would mean giving away
your date of birth and your father’s name. Similarly, sharing the customer identity details only makes it easier for the fraudsters to access the Net banking account of the victim,” said a senior police officer.
Elderly Kolkatans who are forced to stay alone as their children stay outside for a living are most vulnerable to online fraud.