Cybercriminals targeting people through KYC fraud

Hyderabad, Oct 6 (IANS) Cybercriminals have siphoned off over Rs 67 lakh from bank accounts of gullible people through KYC (Know Your Customer) fraud, Cyberabad police said.

The fraudsters are adopting innovative ways to cheat the people. Cyber Crime Police station of Cyberabad Police Commissionerate has been receiving complaints of cheating in the name of updation of KYC for State Bank of India, Airtel, Paytm etc.

According to Cyberabad Police Commissioner Stephen Ravindra, fraudsters send a link created using NGROK, Bitly, Google View form and survey monkey etc. So far, 140 cases were registered against SBI KYC fraud and an amount of Rs 67,10,021 has been defrauded and siphoned off from accounts of the innocent citizens in Cyberabad this year.

Fraudsters are contacting SBI account and credit card holders, by pushing bulk SMS and calls warning them to update their KYC details. They are asking the customer to download different remote access applications like Any Desk app, Quick Support App, Team Viewer App etc. "When a customer downloads the application, they ask the customer to transfer nominal amount like one rupee, Rs 10 or Rs 100 for checking. When the customer transfers the money by entering his bank account details, his account is hacked and money is debited into the fraudster's accounts in different transactions."

Recently fraudsters started sending NGROK and Bitly links along with the messages asking users to click on the link to update KYC. When user clicks on link it redirects the page to fake web page which is similar to SBI net banking. When user enters net banking credentials like user id, password and OTP, fraudster collects the details and use the credentials to login to the users account and transfer funds to their accounts.

The police commissioner has appealed to people never to believe messages or calls who ask them to update KYC details of their SBI or any other accounts, as the bank authorities never send any such messages/mails or make calls regarding KYC updation.

People have been advised not to reveal their bank account details to anyone especially secret PIN (Personal Identification Number) or One Time Password (OTP).

No bank authority or employee will ever ask customer for PIN/OTP. People have been advised not to download mobile applications suggested by unknown callers/unknown sources as the offenders disguised as officials from bank will hack their accounts through these applications and cheat them before they realise it.

"Never transfer small amounts of money on the request of unknown callers as this transaction will help the offender gain access to your main account and thus help commit financial fraud by hacking your account," said the police officer.