Thread by @ami_b_shah

This morning, my dad who is a senior citizen, received a call from someone claiming to be a @bankofbaroda official, & said he hadn’t complied with KYC process and probably missed a communication from the bank earlier, and hence the bank account is blocked. #fraudalert (1/n)

He went on to give my dad a huge list of documents he needed to carry to the branch, to unblock the account. My dad said he doesn’t step out of the house due to the pandemic since he is a senior citizen. (2/n)

The guy at the other end said he will hand over the phone to the branch manager, and see if it can be sorted online. The branch manager, in an extremely dominating tone repeated that the account will be blocked, unless my dad helps out with certain details over the phone. (3/n)

He also assertively asked my dad to lower his tone (My dad wasn’t loud). This was probably to ensure that people in the house do not hear the conversation. (4/n)

My dad ended up sharing his account no, debit card number, and expiry date. What followed was, there was an OTP to start mobile banking services, and my dad was asked to give it to the ‘branch manager’ on call. This was followed by a transaction OTP. (5/n)

Mind you, the callers kept him engaged in talks and insisted that OTP be given asap, leaving such gullible a/c holders with no way to read the rest of the SMS, which warns OTP should not be shared with anyone. (6/n)

To be sure, my dad is well educated, and like most senior citizens not as tech savvy. (7/n)

Coincidentally and thankfully, I happened to drop by the living room, and figured the red flags. I warned my dad that this could be a fraudster and took the phone from dad. (8/n)

I told the caller to back off, and to which he threatened me that he will send me to jail. He told me how it was illegal for me to talk to him, and not allow my dad to speak to him. (9/n)

We hung up, managed to block the card and mobile banking, and were saved in the nick of time. Please please keep reiterating to your parents that they should not be sharing their bank/card/UPI/wallet details with ANYONE, and OTP is NEVER to be given to anyone. (10/n)

Another friend's uncle was duped in a similar fashion for a few lacs. Also, such frauds are on a rise amid the pandemic. (11/n)

My thoughts: Senior citizens are targeted as they are most vulnerable to such frauds, and typically have a decent bank balance. For them the fear of the bank account being locked, equates with the fear of losing money. (12/n)

The fraudsters insist they will have to physically come to the bank, if they don’t comply with the online ‘procedure’. Given the Covid situation, these account holders tend to give in. (13/n)

I request @MumbaiPolice , @DCP_CCC_Delhi @CPMumbaiPolice to look into this matter urgently. I can DM the details. The service provider was @airtelindia and the fraudster's bank account was with @YESBANK . I request them to co-operate and help out too. (14/n)

Also, I marked the phone as fraudster in Truecaller. If you come across such calls, please do the same, so that other targets are warned (15/n)

Stay safe everyone, and keep your money safe too! (16/n)