Nowadays banking frauds are quite on the rise. Being ultra-vigilant while mentioning personal details in document or cheque goes a long way in preventing us from being trapped in any unwanted scam. Let us discuss with the help of a recent example how sharing a small detail can get you trapped.
Harm of writing your phone number behind a cheque?
In a recent case, a man who was quite well versed with the banking system exploited the loopholes to his own advantage. The man used to work as a loan agent and hence had a fair understanding of how the banking system functions. He used the personal details mentioned at the back of a cheque of a farmer’s account to create fake PAN cards and Aadhar cards. Making unfair use of this information he got the mobile number linked to that particular account changed from behind the cheque. Once the mobile number was changed, he managed to get full access to the account. He wrongfully treated this account as his own and misused it. The man regularly withdrew certain amounts of money from the account.
Moving ahead with his fraudulent intentions, he even got a cheque book issued apart from managing to avail multiple ATM cards for the same bank account. At that time, the bank had lawfully allowed multiple ATM cards for a single bank account. This was one loophole that he mercilessly exploited. The scamster went on to get 7 such ATM cards. He carried out hundreds of such transactions, withdrawing lakhs of money. The total sum that he wiped away from the account totalled up to INR 1.4 Crores! No one would have ever imagined how just mentioning their contact details can land them up in such a financial crisis. The system is at fault as it helped him get the SIM cards to get a new mobile number without a background check and verification of the fraudster. It was due to this weak link that he was able to link the new number with the bank account of the farmer. If they would have done the verification, then the fraudster would have been caught red-handed then itself.
The investigation regarding the case is still ongoing and the police are investigating the role of the bank authorities too. Hence it is required for all individuals to be mindful of the personal details they share on such official documents. We never know who, where and how it can be misused and land us up into trouble.
What Should You Do?
It is advisable that our confidential details are shared only with trusted bank officials directly when required. Other than that, we can refrain from sharing any unwanted information. We can carefully mention these details where a proper authority is taking accountability of our profile and any kind of misuse will be taken care of by them.
To prevent such crimes in the future, banking regulations need to be strengthened. Any kind of privacy leak should be reported, and due course of action should be chalked out. On the part of the customers/individuals, without proper verification, we must not share any personal details wherever it is not required. This will help us sail through such unwanted instances and find stability in the system and our routine transactions.
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