Hard Cash Day 41: Cyber theft cases on the rise
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Hard Cash Day 41: Cyber theft cases on the rise

If you receive a call from someone asking for your bank account details, don't divulge any information. You could find your account hacked and funds siphoned off.

Hard Cash Day 41: Cyber theft cases on the rise

With most people preferring electronic modes of payment over transactions in hard cash since demonetisation, the number of cyber-theft cases has seen a sudden spike.

RK Kakkar, a senior citizen residing in Sector 49 of Noida, came back home after an eye operation to find his bank account hacked and short of Rs 25,500. Kakkar, who lives with his son Shailesh, on December 19 received a call from an unknown number on his bank-registered mobile number. The caller, claiming to be the bank manager, persuaded him to reveal his debit-card details on the pretext of issuing a new card. An unsuspecting Kakkar shared the details with the caller. A few minutes later, he received a message on his phone notifying him that Rs 25,500 had been debited from his bank account. He called up the police control room to inform them about the incident. A case has been registered and the Noida police cyber crime investigation cell is looking into the matter. 

Unfortunately, Kakkar's case is not a stray incident. There are several such incidents across the country, though many of them go unreported. 

According to Noida police cyber crime investigation cell, there are five cases of digital transaction frauds registered every day on average. This figure is bound to be on an even higher side now, with more and more people preferring electronic modes of payment. Vivek Ranjan Rai, inspector with Noida police cyber crime investigation cell, said that in most cases, a victim received a call from someone posing as a bank official. They then obtained the victim's account details on the pretext of updating a customer's bank account and siphoned off funds.

What's worse is that there are no laws in place to compensate the victims. 

"The Information Technology Act has provisions under which cases can be lodged against those guilty of cyber thefts," said Rahul Rathore, an advocate and cyber-crime expert. "The Act, however, does not guarantee any sort of compensation. A victim is only compensated if his account is compromised owing to a bank's fault. The bottom line is that online transactions are not 100 per cent secure."