The scammers have not yet been tracked down.
New Delhi:
The next time you receive a message from your bank stating that money has been credited to your account, it may be wise to check the bank’s app or your account statement to see if the amount is actually there.
A Delhi jeweler learned this lesson the hard way after sending gold chains worth nearly Rs 3 lakh to a scammer after receiving messages on his phone, supposedly from his bank, that the money had been credited to his account.
Jeweler Naval Kishore Khandelwal runs a five-decade-old shop in Chandni Chowk’s Kucha Mahajani, Delhi’s largest gold and silver market. Last week, Mr. Khandelwal was visiting Ayodhya when someone contacted his store by phone and made a deal with his sons for a 15 gram gold necklace.
The person said he would not be able to visit the store and asked for Mr Khandelwal’s internet banking details so that he could transfer the money online. After some time, the jeweler received a message that Rs 93,400 had been credited to his bank account and he sent the screenshot to his sons. The gold chain was then sent to an address specified by the person.
The next day the same person called and said he needed a 30 gram gold chain. The same process was followed and Mr. Khandelwal received a text message that Rs 1,95,400 had been deposited into his account. This gold chain was also sent.
It was only afterwards that the jeweler happened to check his account statement on the bank’s mobile app and realized that the money had not been deposited. He then checked both text messages he had received and realized that although they were in the format used by his bank, they were not actually from the bank.
“I was engaged in a religious function and did not realize that fraud was being committed. I asked my sons to go to the bank and check, and they confirmed that the money had not been deposited. Bank officials said they had no responsibility in this,” said Mr Khandelwal.
His son Mayank said they couldn’t check the statement right away because the bank app for the account was only installed on his father’s phone.
Although a report has been filed, the police have so far failed to track down the scammers.
Many other traders in the market and elsewhere have also fallen prey to the scam.
Yogesh Singhal, president of the Bullion and Jewelers Association, said: “When I found out about this on Sunday, I sent a message to people in the industry all over India. Then several people called me and said the same thing happened to them.”
A complaint has also been made on the Interior Ministry’s cybercrime portal, but experts say this type of fraud does not fall into that category.
“This fraud is not covered by cyber law. It is a matter of deceit and forgery. Someone sent a message by forging it, and no banking portal or web portal was used. The case falls under the Indian Penal Code and not the cybercrime law,” says cyber law expert Sajal Dhamija.
