Actor Among 50 Bank Customers Defrauded Of Lakhs In Mumbai In One Week

Bank Fraud Case: Among the 50 victims was actor Malavika, alias Shweta Konnur Menon, who claimed that she was siphoned of Rs 57,600 after she fell prey to the fraud message.

At least 50 customers, including an actor, of a private bank were duped of lakhs of rupees in a week in Mumbai after they clicked on a fraudulent link sent to their phones via text messages asking them to update KYC and PAN details. Mumbai Police has so far registered 40 FIRs in the matter and has issued an advisory cautioning citizens against clicking on such links asking for their confidential details.

The Know Your Customer (KYC) process is mandatory for people to verify their identity when they open a bank account.

Among the 50 victims was actor Malavika, alias Shweta Konnur Menon, who claimed that she was siphoned of Rs 57,600 after she fell prey to the fraud message. Menon, who has acted in Tamil and Telegu movies, has lodged a complaint with Khar police. 

"I received a message on my mobile from an unknown number. It was written in the message that your bank account has been blocked and asked to click on the link given in the message to update your PAN card. After clicking on the link and upon filling the PAN card details, the net banking page opened. After some time, I received an OTP message on my mobile and after a few minutes, Rs 57,000 was withdrawn. I immediately informed the police about this," Menon said.

Balsingh Rajput, DCP, Cyber, Mumbai Police, said cautioned people to be careful of such scamsters. "One needs to be careful with such people. If any message or link comes in the name of updating KYC on a person's mobile, do not click on it. Give information about the matter to police," Rajput said.

Following the incident, Mumbai Police has come out with an advisory asking citizens against clicking on such links asking bank customers for their confidential details.

"Fraudsters are sending such fake SMS with phishing links to the customers stating that their bank account is blocked for not updating their KYC/ PAN card details. Such links direct the customers to a fake website of their bank where they are asked to enter their customer ID, password, and other confidential details," the advisory said.

HDFC Bank, in a statement, asked its customers not to respond to unknown numbers asking for pan card or KYC update or any other banking information. 

"HDFC Bank will always send messages from their official ID hdfcbk / hdfcbn and links in these messages will always be under http://hdfcbk.io domain. Remember, bank will never ask for PAN details, OTP, UPI, VPA / MPIN, Customer ID & Password, Card No, ATM PIN & CVV," the bank said.