A variety of fraudulent activities has emerged over mobile banking apps. Clients are phoned and then duped into providing their PIN numbers plus other information. Eventually, the money in the account of clients is transferred secretly, using the gathered information.
It’s believed that clients are asked to press some numbers which result in their SIMs to be diverted which then passes information to swindlers.
A few days ago, a woman called Moushumi received a phone from a person claiming to be from Bkash. The person said that Moushumi’s Bkash account had closed down and therefore, needed her PIN and other information to restart her account.
An unsuspecting Moushmi gave the information and the fraudster took out Tk. 21900 from her account. |
When opening the account, Bkash warned her not to write PIN, verification, security code anywhere, talk to anyone without proper verification and send money to personal accounts of agents.
She was also told that Bkash never sends SMS for winning any lottery or give her phone to anyone unknown.
Cyber-crime unit says that fraudsters collected number of Moushumi by making rounds to Bkash agents.
Posing as Bkash officials, swindlers gave the agents the code acquired through deception from Moushumi on the phone and took her details.
Police say that the con men collected the Bkash and Rocket numbers from agents’ lists.
Clients of Bkash are using ‘mask call’ trick to dupe users, police feel.
Deputy-commissioner of Cyber Crime Security and Crime Division, Alimuzzaman, said: “mobile clients are still not aware and in many cases, users are entrapped.”
Senior fellow of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), Dr. Nazneen Ahmed, said: “the mobile banking has reached rural areas and though this has eased monetary transactions for people in the villages, a wide area of exploitation has also opened up.”
To stop fraud, the mobile services will also have to take initiatives and ensure safety of their apps, she added.