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How this banking scam made a man lose over Rs 2 lakh while ordering food online
In another incident of online fraud through remote device control app, a 42-year-old software engineer in Indore lost Rs 2.28 lakh while ordering food online. In the recent times, several banks, including HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, State Bank of India and others have issued a warning about this type of scam wherein a fraudster gets unauthorised access to victim’s smartphone through remote device control apps like AnyDesk and others. Earlier this year, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) too had issued a similar advisory for frauds. Here is everything you need to know about this scam which resulted in the Indore-based man losing over Rs 2 lakh …
The man claimed a refund for a previous order and this is when it all started
While ordering food online, the man saw that Rs 280 was deducted from his bank account for some previous transaction that he did. To seek clarification and refund, he reached out to the customer support team of the payment gateway company.
Someone who claimed to be a customer support executive contacted the man to offer refund and in turn duped him
After two days, the man got a call from someone who claimed to be a customer support executive of the payment gateway company and promised him to offer a refund. Citing server issues, the so-called customer support executive made him download a remote device control app on his phone. The fraudster then asked the man to login to the remote device control app that he downloaded and share the login key.
It was only when the man accessed his online banking portal that he got robbed of Rs 2.28 lakh
The man got suspicious about this ‘refund process’ and in a panic, he tried to transfer all the money from his account to his wife’s account but failed. The man contacted his bank to get his account blocked, but the bank disabled his debit cards instead and left online/mobile banking on his account active. The next day he found out that Rs 2.28 lakh was stolen from his bank account in 15 successful transactions.
In these types of scams, the fraudster will call you as a bank or customer care representative to grab your attention
In order to make the call appear real, the fraudster will verify your details like name, date of birth and mobile number
The fraudster might even try to scare you by saying your card, mobile banking will get blocked or something similar if you don’t follow his instructions
The ultimate motive of the fraudster is to convince you to download an app to solve ‘the problem’. This app could be ‘AnyDesk’ or other similar remote device control app
The fraud caller will then ask for a 9-digit app code or login key that is generated on the victim’s phone
After getting the login key, the fraud caller takes full control of the victim’s device without their knowledge
Remote device control apps like AnyDesk and others are completely legit and useful. However, it is the lack of awareness among citizens that causes the fraudsters to be successful
Remember, there is no need at all for a customer support executive to ask you to download a separate app to process a refund or fix any online banking issues. If someone does so, the caller is most likely a fraud
