Shimla: With the ever-increasing use of technology in our daily lives, the dependency on phones and the internet to make things simpler and easy, we have also put to risk the security of it all.
One of the by-products of this menace is cybercrime. India which is one of the countries that uses the internet a lot also witnesses cybercrimes on a daily basis.
However, the nation has now started to fight back and introduced several measures to curb the crimes, and in one such incident even succeeded.
An Indian Police Services (IPS) officer of Himachal cadre recently got calls from scammers who claimed to be bank officials and asked for her ATM pin, bank details, the expiry date of the card etc on the pretext of unblocking the card.
The female officer, aware of such hoax calls gave wrong details and disconnected.
When the scammer could not cheat the IPS officer, he started calling repeatedly and later even abused the officer. The officer later ignored calls from that number.
The scammer started texting abusive, vile and derogatory messages to the officer and that is when she registered a formal complaint with the Information Technology (IT) cell.
Upon inquiry, it was revealed that the number belongs to a man named Mukul Mithra in Jharkhand and an FIR was registered at Devghar cyber police station.
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A team led by Inspector Sangeeta Kumari arrested Mukul Mithra. During interrogation, he admitted to his crimes and the police found mobile phones, SIM cards, and two ATM cards from his possession.
The quick-wit and awareness of the IPS officer helped police arrest the scammer.
What to do, and not to do
Since for any cybercriminal to dupe anyone, it is primary to have the details like a PIN number, account number ATM card expiry date etc, it is important to not reveal any of these to anyone.
No bank asks its customer such details, so refrain from sharing with anyone. In case you do receive such calls, make sure to call the police so that necessary action can be taken and people are safe.
If, unfortunately, you are at the receiving end and get duped by a scammer, immediately call the bank and get your card blocked.
Thirdly, do not surf for toll-free number of banks on the internet as there are a plethora of fake numbers doing rounds using which the scammers cheat people.
Your safety in your hands
Since you get the OTP, CVV and ATM pin it's in your hands to keep it safe and not share with anyone. Only this will ensure that your hard-earned money is safe.
Also read: Cybercriminal tries to dupe IPS officer, arrested
Also, do not indulge in transactions with unverified online shopping sites, trending or investment sites. Do not scan unknown QR codes or open unknown links.
In the case of cheating, immediately inform the police.
