ROURKELA: Bank frauds are on the rise. Gullible bank account holders are falling prey to net banking and digital transaction frauds across Rourkela and Sundargarh police districts in the absence of fool-proof banking security. The victims are both literate urbanites and illiterate rural people.
Sundargarh SP Pinak Mishra said a retired PSU engineer on Saturday evening complained at Bargaon police station that Rs 25.82 lakh was fraudulently withdrawn from his savings bank account in Bargaon branch of SBI. The SP said an anonymous caller, posing as a bank official, won the trust of the victim and successfully extracted banking details of the victim for linking his SB account to Aadhaar number. He said the amount was transferred to different accounts over a period of about 45 days. He added that sensitisation programmes would be conducted across Sundargarh police district.
However, theft of Rs 44,000 from the SB account of Pradeep Tripathy in Sorda branch of SBI was altogether different. Lodging a complaint with Bisra police, Tripathy said he neither did any online transaction nor spoke to anyone about his bank account details. Over a month, the amount was withdrawn in six transactions, but he did not receive any SMS from the bank to his registered mobile number.
A woman labourer, Bilchen Kujur, also said last month Rs 20,000 was stolen from her account in Sorda branch of SBI. About 15 days back, Dasarath Sahu, having an account in the same branch, lost Rs 50,000. Sahu was trapped by an anonymous caller and shared account details with him.
Rourkela-based Regional Manager of SBI B B Das said recently Rs 44,000 was fraudulently transferred from an account of Jalda branch of SBI and transferred to an SBI account in Dharbhanga of Bihar.
However, due to timely action, the amount was held up and Rourkela police are investigating. Defending the bank’s security system, Das said account holders unknowingly share sensitive details with fraudsters.
Worse, the victims are left to fend for themselves with help not coming from bank officials. Moreover, local police officers lack expertise in cyber crimes.Rourkela SP US Dash said there is a proposal for cyber police station at Rourkela and efforts are on towards capacity building of his officers against cyber crimes.