Mumbai woman loses Rs 7 lakh after activating credit card on her new Android phone, check details

By Divya BhatiThere has been a significant rise in cyber fraud cases over the past few months. While on the one hand, cyber cells and police are trying to spread awareness about scams, on the other, these online scammers are adapting new ways to trick people. And when we say adapting we literally mean new ways that one could not even think of. For instance, in a recently reported case of online fraud, a woman from Mumbai lost Rs 7 lakh as she switched from iPhone to a new Android phone to activate her credit card.

In a recently reported case by Times Now, a woman from Panvel, Mumbai fell victim to an online scammer who duped her on the pretext of offering a credit card and a free Android phone. According to the report, the 40-year-old woman received a call from a person named Saurabh Sharma who introduced himself as a bank employee and offered her a new credit card and membership of a sports club in the city.

Falling for his offer, the woman agreed to get the new credit card. She even shared her personal details including her Aadhaar card with the fraudster to initiate the process. Furthermore, the scammer Sharma, said that the credit card can only be activated using an Android smartphone. Since the woman was using an iPhone, he asked her to change the device with the new phone which he will be sending. The woman agreed to use the new phone and shared her home address at which she could receive the new Android phone.

After sharing all the details, the woman received the new Android smartphone on the same day of the call. Reportedly, the phone has two pre-installed apps -DOT Secure and Secure Envoy Authenticator.

After receiving the phone, Sharma asked the woman to insert her SIM card into the new phone and follow the instructions to complete the activation process of the credit card.

The woman followed what the scammer said. Hours after activating her credit card she received two messages about bank transactions notifying her about a purchase 7 lakhs made from her credit card. The transaction was from a jewellery shop in Bangalore.

After getting messages about the unauthorised transactions, the woman realised she was scammed. However, since the banks were closed on that day she was unable to verify the transactions and reported the case of fraud the next day. She approached the bank and later filed a case with the Khandeshwar police.

While the case is under investigation, this recent fraud does raise questions on how the scammer who was on the phone was able to trick the woman with a newly issued credit card. Is this a case of phishing? Or a fake credit card?

How scammer tricked the woman

Well, in the first instance, the above online case seems to be a case of phishing. The scammer got all her details and used the credit card to make a purchase. But if we look into details, there is a layer of tricks which the scammer used. So let’s take a look at how this fraud happened.

Firstly, the scammer called the woman and offered her a credit card. He even lured her into the offer by promising a free membership to a renowned club. Since she fell for the offer, the scammer got all her details including Aadhaar, bank details and more. Once the personal information was received, the scammer applied for a credit card from the woman’s behalf.

Next, to activate the credit card and get all the details of its pin and everything, the scammer tricked her into using an Android phone which had two preinstalled apps. The apps installed on the phone were likely used to gain access to the victim’s bank account or credit card information. Once the credit card was activated, the scammer used the information to initiate the transaction. Notably, one can use a credit card without using a physical card by adding its details in UPI or in net banking. And the scammer did the same.

So how to prevent such a scam? NEVER trust an unknown person on call. For credit cards too, banks never ask to share personal details over calls. If you get a similar call, report it. Never fall for such calls.