Free credit card offer costs Bengaluru lecturer Rs 3 lakh

Bengaluru: Posing as staff of Punjab National Bank (PNB) and offering lifetime free (LTF) credit card, cybercriminals recently siphoned off Rs 3 lakh from an engineering college faculty member in the city.Raju (name changed), a resident of Malleswaram who works with a private autonomous engineering college in KS Layout, lodged a police complaint stating that a conman rang him on April 26, saying he was calling from PNB and could offer LTF credit cards."I accepted the offer and the caller sent me a link via text message, asking me to provide details. When I pressed the link, it connected me to a video call and the person on the other side asked me to show my PAN card. Looking at my PAN card, they refused to issue the credit card. However, they said if I showed them my old credit cards, they could issue one," Raju explained.Not sensing the trap, Raju showed details of three credit cards, issued by three different banks. "Saying they could now issue a card, they asked me to download the ‘Punjab National Bank' app sent on WhatsApp. I downloaded it. In a few minutes, I started receiving one-time passwords. Growing suspicious, I disconnected the video call," Raju stated in his complaint.By then, Rs 1,89,822 was drawn from his Bank of Baroda credit card. "I called the customer helpline of Bank of Baroda, but no one responded. In the next few moments, the miscreants drew Rs 33,097 from the RBL Bank credit card. Next, they transferred Rs 99,999 to my MobiKwik wallet. From there, they drew Rs 74,449 in different instalments," Raju explained.Knowing he had fallen prey to cybercriminals, Raju quickly transferred the remaining Rs 25,550 from MobiKwik to another bank account, before blocking all the cards.
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