There can be myriad usages of Digital wallets: it is an convenient, hassle free way to make all your digital payments, pay your bills and more. But what if the same digital wallets are being used by thieves for sinister objectives?
Something similar has been observed in Delhi, where thieves are now using digital wallets to transfer their stolen money. And going by the ‘convenience’ factor experienced till now, it seems thieves are actually enjoying it.
How Does e-Stealing Work: The Modus Operandi
This gang of thieves would call ignorant customers, posing as bank officials, and then steal vital account related information, which is then used to siphon off the money. The stolen money is then routed via various mobile wallets such as Paytm, PayU Money and more and the trail gets lost.
One such businessman from Delhi claimed that once such fraudster called him and enquired about his ATM card. As soon as he revealed information, he found Rs 85,000 has been vanished from his bank account.
Using the digital wallets is easy, as the obtained bank account number is added to the wallet; and one time password is instantly generated. As soon as this OTP is shared, the money gets transferred, and the trail ends.
One police inspector associated with this case said, “A probe was initiated, during which it was found that the money was transferred to different e-wallets registered through phone numbers that were procured using fake IDs. Once the money was deposited in the e-wallets, they were transferred to different bank accounts. The source of these accounts were traced to Chhattisgarh and the two accused were arrested from Mungeli area,”
Who Are These Thieves?
Police discovered that these thieves belong to good families, and one such member is a BCA graduate, while the other is pursuing degree at college.
Lure of fast money, and the security vulnerabilities of digital wallets have been the encouragement for them.
DCP (crime) Bhisham Singh said that these fraudsters admitted that they disguised as RBI officials, practiced several mock calls to sound official and threatening before calling gullible bank customers.
Earlier, we had reported how bank officials have been found scamming their customers by pulling out money from their bank’s apps. An earlier research have already explained how digital money apps are insecure in India; and how security loopholes are prompting scamsters to steal money from them.
At a time when companies like Mastercard are mulling payment verification using selfies, how will law enforcement agencies and digital wallet firms ensure that frauds doesn’t happen?
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