Chandigarh man loses ₹24k after sharing OTP over phone call

In a cautionary tale, a resident of Sector 21 in Chandigarh, known as Madan, fell victim to a phone scam that resulted in a loss of approximately ₹24,000 from his credit card. Madan reported the incident to the Chandigarh Police.

Madan's ordeal began when he received an unexpected call from an unknown number on October 17. The caller posed as a representative of DBS Bank and conveyed the alarming news that there was an active insurance policy linked to Madan's credit card, with a monthly charge of ₹1,500.

The scam unfolds

Doubting the legitimacy of the claim, Madan requested the caller to cancel the policy, asserting that he had never signed up for any insurance. However, the caller insisted that the policy could only be deactivated by sharing a One-Time Password (OTP) received on Madan's mobile phone. Believing the caller's ruse, Madan shared the OTP.

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Tragically, this proved to be a costly mistake. After sharing the OTP, a substantial sum of ₹23,905 was fraudulently debited from Madan's account.

Legal action taken

Madan promptly reported the incident to the cyber police. Subsequently, the unidentified scammer has been charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including cheating (Section 420), cheating by personation (Section 419), forgery of valuable security (Section 467), forgery for the purpose of cheating (Section 468), using a forged document as genuine (Section 471), and criminal conspiracy (Section 120-B).

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This unfortunate incident serves as a stark reminder to exercise caution when receiving unexpected calls from unknown numbers and to refrain from sharing sensitive information, such as OTPs, with unfamiliar individuals, especially over the phone.