City Cyber Police return Rs. 14.16 lakh that was swindled from victims

Mysore/Mysuru: The Cyber, Economic and Narcotics (CEN) Crime Police Station in Mysuru city has solved 16 cases of online fraud from Jan. 25 till date and have returned Rs. 14,16,353 that was swindled from hapless victims.

The Quick Response Team (QRT) of the CEN Police managed to recover the money from swindlers’ bank accounts with the help of bank managers, nodal officers and core banking teams.

Most of the bank accounts that were opened for fraud purposes were outside Karnataka and it is due to the sheer efforts of the QRT that the victims were able to get back their money. The banks too acted in a prompt manner and froze the accounts of fraudsters. Mounting cases of online frauds have made the City Police to constitute QRT to help streamline operations. Such arrangements are seeing results and are helping the Police to solve cases quickly. The QRT is nothing but a re-skilled in-house team, which increasingly comprises engineering graduates, some of whom are specialists in computer, communications and are also tech-savvy.

The team directly functions under the supervision of City Police Commissioner Dr. Chandragupta and DCP (Law and Order) Pradeep Gunti. The CEN Police Station, located in City Police Commissioner’s Office at Nazarbad, is headed by Inspector N. Jayakumar, Sub-Inspectors Anil Kumar, M.L. Siddesh, Constables Shivakumar, Sunil, Lavanya and Divya.

Interestingly, as soon as the CEN Police get information about the fraud they begin investigation and do not wait — till a formal complaint is filed — as any delay will make the conmen vanish with the money. The team cannot afford to lose time and even the victims must complain as soon as the money is debited from their bank accounts.

Rs. 14,16,353 refunded to victims

In the latest list of cases solved by the CEN Police Station, the major money recovered was that of Chand and Sunita Lal Chand from Vijayanagar who were cheated of Rs. 4,49,100 over KYC (Know Your Customer) updating. In the guise of updating KYC data, conmen got the OTP from the couple and defrauded them after accessing their bank account.

Chandru from Vidyaranyapuram was cheated of Rs, 1,69,199 on the reasons of updating KYC details of his bank account. Ravi Hebbar from Dattagalli here was cheated of Rs. 22,999 and the fraudsters cleverly told him that they are calling from his bank and his account would be closed if the KYC is not updated. Trusting the caller, Chandru shared the OTP and account details.

Prem Das from Hinkal shared his debit card details with the conman and ended up losing Rs. 1,999. Sohan Jain lost Rs. 5,000 in an online job fraud case, Dr. Mahadevaswamy was conned Rs. 25,000 after the fraudsters collected OTP from him. One Rajinikanth lost Rs. 44,000 in a credit card fraud.

Trading fraud, gift fraud, rent fraud

The list does not end here as there are more victims. One Jayanth lost Rs. 35,000 in a trading fraud, B.K. Chaitra lost Rs. 1,000 in gift fraud, Indu Dudeja was conned by a fraudster in a rent fraud and Vidya Gowda was cheated of 1,10,000 after cheaters promised a job offer online and she ended up paying money.

Dr. Venkatasubbaiah, a resident of Sharadadevinagar, had transferred Rs. 1,93,056 through his credit card to the account of an accused and lost the money. Similarly, Vanishree, a resident of Cheluvamba Agrahara, lost Rs. 50,000 to a conman through an online (UPI) payment app.

In the same way, Bopaiah, a resident of Vijayanagar, had transferred Rs. 30,000 to the account of an accused through UPI and Vinoda Bai, a resident of Kuvempunagar, had made an online bank transfer of Rs. 1,00,000 to a fraudster. A fraudster stole the personal banking details of Dr. Rajeshwari, a resident of Metagalli under the pretext of updating her KYC details. She ended up losing Rs. 1,00,000.

Tips to safeguard yourself from online fraud

• Never disclose your financial information to anyone.
• No authority or institution asks for OTP, PIN or CVV over the phone.
• Be cautious if someone unknown asks you to install screen sharing software/apps such as AnyDesk, TeamViewer.
• Be very cautious and vigilant while using links embedded in an email or SMS, especially where it requires entering financial credentials.
• Clicking these links can corrupt and compromise both your phone and the OTP without you realising it. Some apps may even initiate fake transactions to phish you into giving away the same data.
• While making a payment and entering OTP, be sure to double-verify the amount that is going to be debited as well as the name of the merchant receiving the payment. If the source doesn’t look credible/authentic or the amount is different, cancel the transaction immediately.
• Receiving money never requires you to scan a QR code. If a buyer asks you to scan something, it is most likely a scam.
• Do not conduct any sensitive or bank (net banking) transactions from unprotected or public devices and networks.
• Always use a virtual keyboard on public devices because keystrokes can be captured through compromised devices using keylogger software.
• Do not fill Google forms provided by prospective buyers or sellers.
• Do not share copies of your cheque book and other KYC documents with strangers (unless you can verify their identity and KYC is required).
• Do not install any mobile applications sent by suspicious persons or networks as it could be a trick to cheat using details furnished by the user.

The City Police Commissioner has requested the public to report cases of online frauds to the CEN Crime Police Station immediately by calling Ph: 0821-2418598, Police Inspector: 94808-02263 or Police Control Room on Ph: 0821-2418339. The complaints can also be registered on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCCRP) or by calling the toll-free number 155260.