Falling for imposters online a strict ‘no’

Sanjay Yadav

Online fraud in the name of completion of Paytm KYC has emerged as one of the biggest challenges for the Gurugram cyber police, as on an average, around 100 people are being duped online every month on the pretext of completion of Paytm know your customer (KYC). As per the records, over 250 cases have been registered in the last five months and despite all measures, a gang of fraudsters is still active in the Millennium city and continues to evade the police and target people.

According to the police, fraudsters trap people in lieu of getting their KYC completed for their Paytm accounts. So far, 500 people have moved the police in the last 150 days. While cases have been registered in more than 250 cases, investigations are on in others. All complaints highlight that it all started with a message highlighting a pending KYC of Paytm and account holders were asked to send a message to a customer care number mentioned there. Once they either message or call on that number, a person who identifies himself as a Paytm officer asks people to carry out the process to perform the KYC. After that, an app gets downloaded automatically and hacks the phone. With the help of UPI, people are being cheated.

Interestingly, the gang members have the data of rural area’s Paytm account holders, who can easily be trapped. Ravi Singh, a villager, said when he got an SMS on his mobile, he immediately contacted on the given number and the caller asked him to set the PIN and told the OTP, which he received, and soon after Rs75,000 were transferred from his bank account. While rural customers are their key target, a gang has had a big share of elite urban targets as well. In November last year, Arvind Kapur, GM of Ambience Mall, was also duped of Rs1.85 lakh on the pretext of confirming his KYC details for Paytm. Arvind told the police that an unidentified man called on his mobile and introduced himself as a Paytm executive. He made him do the payment of Rs1, Rs10 and Rs1 from his credit card of Orient Bank of Commerce, Standard Chartered Bank and American Express, respectively, in order to complete his KYC. After some time, he got a message that Rs 40,000 each were withdrawn from his two credit cards and Rs1.5 lakh from his third card.

“The imposter asks you to download the Quick Support app, Team Viewer and NE-Desk app. After downloading the app, the fraudulent phone’s Remote Deskstop Sport (RDS) is acquired. After that, he has the complete control of the victim’s phone. In that case, he then transfers the entire money from the account to him in a few minutes. In this, people need to be careful,” said Rakshit Tandon, Cybercrime expert.

Another expert Praveen Prakash said: “The KYC is never done on the phone. To complete your Paytm KYC, you can apply for it through the app itself. There is no KYC with the help of any phone or other platform. Only Aadhaar card and PAN card are required for the KYC. There is no transfer of money. Fraudsters cheat by taking advantage of our foolishness.”

“We got to know that people of Jamtara village are active behind the fraud and we are trying to nab them. People should not fall for fraudsters. They should not reply to any message or click on any link sent by them. One needs to be aware and alert,” said Muhammad Akil, Commissioner of Police.

How they dupe you

In a bid to quickly get the KYC done, many customers are falling prey to the KYC fraud. Ram received a call and the caller asked him if he had completed his KYC form. The caller also spoke about how important KYC is and why he should not delay it. Then, he offered to do the man’s KYC directly on call in exchange for a small fee. Next, the caller asked him to share his full name and other personal details, so that he could begin with the KYC process. By this point, Ram was fully convinced that he was getting a quick KYC done. During the course of the call, the imposter asked him to download an app called ‘Anydesk’, so that he could complete the process remotely. After this, the caller asked Ram to transfer the amount they had agreed on as his fee. Ram did that and he was assured that he would get a KYC confirmation soon. When Ram disconnected the call, he saw two new messages. One was an OTP for a transaction on his debit card and the other was a notification that money had been debited from his account.

The app that the fraudster asked Ram to download was a screen-sharing app. This app allows the imposter to see all the activity on Ram’s screen.

When Ram transferred his fee, he saw the bank account and card numbers that were used, along with the PIN and password details.

The fraudster then used these details to transfer money into his own account. He also needed the OTP, which he could now see on Ram’s phone screen due to the Anydesk app.

Stay alert

• Remember it is not possible to do a KYC over a phone call or by downloading any third-party apps. To scam you, fraudsters may even tell you that your existing bank KYC or digital wallet is invalid and they can re-validate it online. This is again not possible
• Never share your bank account, card or any other such details with a caller
• Do not download apps such as Anydesk, TeamViewer or Screenshare on any caller’s request. These apps allow an imposter to see all your passwords, PINs and other important details.
• Genuine PhonePe representatives will never call you to do your KYC over the phone or ask you to download third party apps
• Never call/respond to unverified mobile numbers claiming to be from PhonePe support

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