NEW DELHI: Around 40 IAF officers have complained with the Delhi Police of losing an average of `2 lakh each in fraud international debit card transactions carried out in Canada, a nation they had never visited till date.
The complaint, made officially by the IAF to the Delhi Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW), relates to the officers’ defence salary package accounts with the State Bank of India (SBI).
The EOW has now registered an FIR on the basis of the Air Force Police Headquarters Provost and Security Unit’s complaint under the Information Technology Act. The complaint noted that fraudent shopping transactions and money withdrawals were reported by the IAF officers on their defence salary package accounts.
The cumulative loss of the victims of the fraud is expected to be around Rs 1 crore, according to an IAF officer, who did not wish to be named. The officer noted that they had taken up the matter with the SBI, which had now blocked all international transactions on the debit cards of defence salary package accounts, as the fraud purchases and cash withdrawals were reported.
The officers affected were in the ranks of Flight Lieutenant to Group Captain and the fraud transactions were reported on the gold debit cards of the SBI.
“We suspect that it is either cloning of the debit cards or data theft,” the officer said. The SBI has assured the IAF officers that it would investigate the matter.