Actor Koneenica Banerjee cheated by cyber hackers

KOLKATA: Actor Koneenica Banerjee became the latest victim of cyber fraud on Monday when around Rs 25,000 of her money that was kept for her marriage was wiped off from her account. A complaint in this regard has been registered at the Bhowanipore police station. The actor – who is recuperating from a sudden personal loss – said the fresh blow has left her shocked, especially since it was her father who had primarily handled the fraudster over the phone.
“It was around 12 noon when someone called up on my mobile number and informed me that he was calling from my bank.He said he needed the KYC details along with my credit and debit card numbers. I do not really take interest in banking and so did not react when the caller insisted that he would stop all transaction on this account for six months. On normal days, I would have disconnected the phone. But since I was home and in mourning, I handed the phone to my father who was upstairs. By the time I climbed up again, the caller was asking for specific card details. Within minutes, five OTPs were generated and two transactions worth Rs 25,000 carried out,” said Koneenica.
The Banerjees said that they immediately contacted The Indian Bank branch manager, where they had the account, and got the account blocked. The police was informed. “You know we would not have been so gullible had it not been the personal setback we received recently,” said Koneenika. Not long ago, retired justice Shyamal Sen too had fallen prey to cyber fraud.
Only last month, Kolkata police have stumbled upon a modus operandi of e-banking fraudsters operating from the Durgapur-Raniganj belt in which they first hack the internet banking account of the target and then get mobile number blocked to prevent the bank customer from receiving SMS alerts about illegal transactions made by them. In the next step, they transfer all the money in to separate e-wallets.
Curiously, the two separate gangs busted by the bank fraud section had managed to trick several of the most prominent citizens of the city – including justice retired Shyamal Sen. The fresh revelation comes days after PM Narendra Modi pledged that the nation should go cashless. The fresh Monday incident has led Kolkata police to issue certain warnings that can make such transactions absolutely safe. One of them is to completely ignore such calls on behalf of banks.