Running fake call centres, conmen make a killing

Earlier, fraudsters used to pose as bank officials and extract credit and debit card details to swindle the money from bank accounts. “In this case, fraudsters are setting up fake customer call centre. Customers reach out to them after obtaining such numbers from the internet using popular search engine,” a police source said.

Police are now getting six to eight complaints every day from people who got cheated in this manner. These conmen are believed to have set up numbers in the name of some popular companies that do not have dedicated customer care number.

Describing the experience of a man who fell victim to the fraud, the office said the person had a credit card which the private banking firm had blocked due to accumulated dues. Wanting to activate the card again, the man searched online where he stumbled upon a phone number which was listed as the customer care number of the firm. When he called, the ‘executive’ advised him to download a payment app and asked him to send the link to a phone number that was given to him. Immediately after the link was shared, he found that cash from his bank account was withdrawn.

“He started getting SMS from the bank that money has been transferred to the payment bank. After realising that he was duped using fake customer care number, he lodged a complaint with the city CCB,” police said.

In another incident, a man who made a purchase on a shopping portal was searching online for a customer care number to report a mix up in delivery. He, too, got a fake contact number. When he contacted the number, he was told that he would get the refund but only through the payment bank app. He was also asked to send the app link to the ‘customer care executive’ along with one-time password. “Within hours Rs 27,000 was siphoned off from his account,” the police source added.