Bank fraud incidents continue unabated
QUETTA (APP): Incidents of bank fraud are on rise as fraudsters impersonating bank representatives have been depriving number of innocent people from their hard-earned money on daily basis.
Cybercrime Wing of the Federal Investigation Agency and bank officials while confirming to this scribe said that they are regularly receiving complaints regarding the online bank scams.
“Elements involved in online fraud and forgery are very expert and contact the bank consumers through different illegal gateways,” they said, adding that the innocent people got trapped and share their bank details which they are not supposed to disclose to irrelevant people.
Bank representative further said that “through SMS and other means, we have been conveying a message to our customers not to divulge their bank details to any unknown callers, however, less educated segment of the society become easy prey to such mafia.
Mohammad Alim, HBL account holder, a recent victim of such fraud said that on March 16, 2023, he received a call from 00210111111425, similar to help line of HBL, in which the impersonator represented himself as verification officer of HBL.
“He provided me the initial information and got my bank OTP. Later, I realized that having obtained my OTP, he transferred Rs 96,175 from my account to Darraz.
I have lodged a complaint with the cyber wing of the FIA and hoped my looted amount will be recovered soon.
The similar incident was happened with Zulqarnain Khan and Mohammad Usman who lost their sizeable amount becoming victim of online fraud.
Hamid Munir, federal government officer said that he too received call but knowing the fact, he did not disclose his details.
“Impersonators looting people should be given exemplary punishment so that this practice should end,” he stressed.
The initial survey and interaction with people from different walks of life revealed that every third person has received calls from impersonators.
It is worth mentioning here that the amount looted online has rarely been recovered, as fraudsters use illegal gateways that are hard to be approached.
“It is a serious issue and must be tackled on a priority basis by the cyber crime wing of the FIA and other concerned,” they emphasized.
