People warned against surge in cyber-crimes

Vijayawada: Criminals are using every opportunity to rob the bank customers by asking their personal and bank account details over phones. Three cybercrime cases have been reported in Krishna district in the last two months.

Even educated people are duped and cheated by the criminals. A school teacher lost Rs 65,000, a college lecturer lost Rs 56,000 and an elderly man lost Rs.18,000 in three different cases registered in Krishna district within two months.

According to Superintendent of Police Sarvasrest Tripathi, a school teacher in Bantumilli village was duped by a cyber-criminal, who robbed Rs 65,000 from his bank account. The victim has applied for the credit card two months ago.

Recently, a caller from Mumbai introduced himself as SBI official and collected details from the school teacher. The victim had trusted the caller and informed the OTP and other details related to his bank accounts. The accused had cleverly robbed Rs 65,000 from the bank account of teacher, said the SP.

Tripathi said case was booked by the Bantumilli police in this regard. He asked the people not to give any details related to password, OTP, bank account numbers to others.

In another case, a lecturer in Machilipatnam was cheated by a criminal. The unknown caller said the Aadhar card details should be linked to his bank account. SP Tripathi said the lecturer blindly trusted the caller and gave information and later noticed Rs 56,000 was missing from his bank account. Machilipatnam police are investigating the case.

In another case, an unidentified person robbed Rs 18,000 from an illiterate elderly man in Jaggaiahpet recently. The aged man asked an unknown person to withdraw cash from the ATM. The culprit duped the old man and gave another ATM card and he escaped with the card of old man. The victim lodged a complaint with the Jaggaiahpet police about the cheating.

the people to be careful with the cyber criminals and said the culprits were seeking details of OTPs, passwords, bank account numbers, Aadhaar numbers and other details over phone. He appealed to people not to reveal any information regarding their bank and Aadhaar number details to others.

He suggested the people to go to their banks personally and speak to the staff concerned to get information. The SP said the offenders are using every opportunity to rob the bank customers and suggested the latter not to disclose any information to others.