Different faces of bank frauds

Customer education key to combating digital fraud, while improved credit appraisal, underwriting, and risk management can help contain loan fraud

- TAMAL BANDYOPADHYAY

# Krishna Dasgupta, 72, a resident of Delhi's CR Park, recently lost ₹83 lakh after she was put under "digital arrest" for over 12 hours one day.

What is digital house arrest? It is a tactic cybercriminals use to confine victims to their homes and scam them. They create fear by making audio or video calls, posing as law enforcement officers. This is done using AI-generated voices or video technology.

It started with a phone call informing Dasgupta that her mobile number would soon be blocked. She couldn't allow this to happen as she lives alone in Delhi and needs to talk to her Mumbaibased daughter and son-in-law often. When she called the caller back, Dasgupta was told that her phone number was being used by another person who had been under the police scanner for using abusive language and pornographic photographs. After she shared her Aadhaar card details, she was informed that she was involved in a money laundering case and would be arrested within two hours.

A young, handsome man in a police uniform asked her how much money she had in her bank accounts. Under a hypnotic spell, she ran from one bank to another throughout the day until she transferred all her savings to a particular account through RTGS. She came out of the spell the next morning when her daughter and son-in-law told her she had become a victim of fraud.

# In the first week of July, a 23-yearold man in Hyderabad fell for a parcel scam and ended up losing ₹12 lakh. The victim received a call from a person claiming to be from FedEx and was told that his Aadhaar number was being misused.