The number of cyber frauds has been rising with each passing day. More than five such cases were reported in the city today. The victims visited the banks concerned to file their complaints and requested the authorities to take necessary action to recover their lost money.Amaranth, who works at a clinic and resides at Jawahar Nagar, has lost Rs 35,000 to cyber criminals. “I have an account in the Bank of India, Kochar Market. On August 1, I received five messages on my mobile showing withdrawal of a total of Rs 38,520. Three messages were about the withdrawal of Rs 10,000 each and two of Rs 5,000 and Rs 3,520 respectively. I was shocked to read the withdrawal messages as my ATM card and the cheque book were right with me at that time.
I have filed a complaint with the bank as also the police,” said Amarnath.Deepak Kumar, also from Jawahar Nagar, said cyber criminals withdrew Rs 25,000 from his account at an ATM machine. He received three messages about withdrawal of Rs 10,000, Rs 10,000 and Rs 5,000 from my account through an ATM. Deepak, who is a page maker in a Punjabi newspaper, said after he received the messages, he immediately got his ATM card blocked.Another resident, Sunny, also from the same locality, said he had lost Rs 50,000 to cyber criminals who withdrew money from his account at ATMs and used his card number for shopping. He said the police had been informed about the incident.Lalit, a resident of the Gill road, said he lost Rs 40,000 to cyber crime. His friend and colleague, Gurmel Singh, said the criminals withdrew Rs 32,000 from his account through ATMs. Both work at a plywood factory.
What is ATM skimming, cloning
It’s a method used by criminals to steal data from the magnetic strip on the back of an ATM card. Devices used to steal the data are smaller than a deck of cards and are often fastened in close proximity to or over the top of the factory-installed card reader at ATM booths. They then make duplicate ATM cards. Police officials said miscreants could have installed skimmer devices on the slot where the card was inserted, and planted pinhole cameras to record the PIN of their victims at ATM booths.
Don’t use ATM cards at petrol pumps for time being: ACP
The ACP, Cyber Crime, Rupinder Kaur Bhatti, confirmed a few complaints of cyber fraud were reported on Wednesday. “I suspect a single gang could be behind these cyber frauds. We are seriously working on some angles. Our initial probe suggests ATM data might have been stolen by criminals at petrol pumps. We have noticed some common cases in which the victims had used cards at common petrol pumps. I advise people against using ATM cards at petrol pumps for the time being,” Bhatti added.
