Police Arrests West Bengal Gang Impersonating Bank’s ‘Action Fraud Team’, Duping Victims through Fake Calls.
The accused individuals, adept in foreign accents, would meticulously portray themselves as calling from overseas to enhance their credibility. The fraudulent scheme was exposed when a resident of south Mumbai incurred a loss of Rs 1.48 crore.
According to DCP Datta Nalawade, the police have apprehended seven suspects, all in their early twenties, hailing from Siliguri, West Bengal. The investigation was initiated after a Churchgate resident lodged a complaint on March 7, alleging deceit. The victim reported receiving multiple calls between February 29 and March 3, purportedly from a representative of his bank, a multinational institution.
The caller, speaking with a foreign accent, claimed to be from the bank’s ‘action fraud team’ and informed the victim about fraudulent transactions on his account. The caller then instructed the victim to download a software, which is not known to the victim, was a mirroring tool. This software allowed the fraudsters to see all the details the victim entered on his phone.
The caller would then ‘transfer’ the call to the ‘action fraud team’ where the person would ask him to log into his bank account on his phone and enter card details. This data was noted by the accused with the help of the mirroring software. Like this, the accused procured the bank data of the victim, his wife and daughter who was studying abroad.
Using the stolen details, the suspects splurged Rs 1.48 crore on luxury purchases from Flipkart, Caratlane, Myntra, and Swiggy, arranging for the items to be delivered to various addresses in Kolkata. However, when a cyber police team from Mumbai arrived in Kolkata, the culprits had already fled. With the assistance of local law enforcement, the seven suspects were traced to Siliguri and apprehended.
An officer reported that items worth Rs 60 lakh out of the total loss were recovered. Senior Inspector NandkumarGopale mentioned that the suspects avoided directly transferring money to their accounts to evade police detection.
“When the delivery agent came to hand over the items they had purchased with the fraudulently obtained money, they would call him and ask him to meet them outside, thereby keeping their residence hidden. They would then sell this stuff in the grey market for cheaper sums and obtain the money,” he added.
BEWARE: Do not enter Bank details, Card details, CVV number after installing unknown software in your mobile, the software you downloaded could be the mirroring software though which cyber fraudsters can read all details you are entering into your phone including OTPs.