JAGATSINGHPUR: Several bank account holders have fallen prey to vishing calls in the district. In a latest case on Friday, a woman of Naada village under Balikuda police limits was looted of Rs 55,000.
Babylata Jena received a call in the afternoon and a man at the other end introduced himself as new bank executive from the SBI headquarters and sought her account details including ATM password.
She divulged the information and also provided him the one-time password (OTP) generated on her mobile phone.
Suspecting something fishy, she rushed to the Balikuda branch and founded that `55,000 has been withdrawn from her account within an hour of the call.
Later, she lodged an FIR at Balikuda police station over the matter. Bank officials said Jena is one of the many such victims to have fallen prey to vishing calls.
Rampant online frauds are also worrying the bankers.
Despite continuously campaigning about the different facets of online cheating, people still get duped. Recently, four depositors of Axis Bank at Kania were looted of lakhs of rupees.
Earlier, conmen had siphoned off Rs 50,000 from bank account of Priyatama Rout of Ghodansa under Naugaon police limits.
Similarly, one Pratap Kumar Singh of Ohala under Jagatsinghpur police limits was cheated of Rs 8,617 on July 20.
Last year, Tirtol police had arrested a prime accused Dheeraj Kumar Gupta from Jharkhand in a similar case and seized 14 mobile phones from his possession.
The accused had siphoned off Rs 37,400 from bank account of Kajal Pradhan of Termanpur village.
Resentment is brewing among the victims and banking consumers over the delay in apprehending the fraudsters in these cases.
They sought the intervention of cyber police station to unearth racket.
Balikuda IIC Sarbeswer Behera said, “We have received an FIR from Jena and further investigation is on. On Saturday, a police team visited the bank and verified the account details.”
On the other hand, bank officials advised the customers to avoid falling prey to such vishing scams as banks generally do not ask for confidential personal and banking information.
Vishing calls generally involve a fraudster posing as an employee from a bank or any other financial organisation and asking the customer to disclose their personal account details, they said.
Fresh cases
A woman of Naada village under Balikuda police limits was looted of Rs 55,000 on Friday
Conmen had siphoned off Rs 50,000 from bank account of Priyatama Rout of Ghodansa under Naugaon police limits
Pratap Kumar Singh of Ohala village under Jagatsinghpur police limits was cheated of Rs 8,617 on July 20
Last year, Tirtol police had arrested a prime accused Dheeraj Kumar Gupta from Jharkhand in a similar case