Mumbai: Woman loses Rs 16 lakh to fake job offer

A 26yearold woman working with a foreign bank fell victim to an internet scam with the lure of a job The scammers conducted a telephonic interview and obtained her personal details which they later used to take loans in her name by adding an alternative number to her bank accountsLoans were fraudulently secured from HDFC and IDFC banks without proper verification The woman became aware of the scam only after receiving EMI notifications from both banks The scammers allegedly took loans totalling Rs 16 lakh with R11 lakh from IDFC Bank and Rs 5 lakh from HDFC BankThe woman Priyanka Yadav has filed a complaint with the East Cyber Cell of the Mumbai Police alleging she was duped between June and September In her complaint Yadav stated that she was approached by a man named Karthik Sharma who obtained her details from her LinkedIn account while she was looking for a jobThe multiple LinkedIn accounts the accused used to scam victimsAccording to her statement Sharma claimed to be from the HR department of Barclays a British bank and said they were recruiting for the HR department He told her that her resume had been selected from LinkedInldquoSince I had updated my LinkedIn account to reflect my experience working with another foreign bank I agreed to talk to him as an opportunity with Barclays would have been great for my careerrdquo Yadav told midday Yadav explained that she participated in two telephonic interviews with the accused After the final round she was informed that she had been selected and was asked to send her details including her Aadhaar and PAN cardsldquoI shared the documents as part of the job process as all companies require them for processing applicationsrdquo she said During the interview process the scammers informed her that her bank account would be temporarily frozen for audit purposes ldquoI thought it was a big company and their process might be different so I agreed to it but I never provided any OTP or confidential detailsrdquo she addedYadav further claimed that she was asked to submit a video interview explaining why she wanted the job which she did She was then asked to attend a final facetoface interview at the Worli branch of Barclays ldquoWhen I visited with the appointment letter for the final round I discovered that no such person worked there and the appointment letter was fakerdquo she saidRealising she had been scammed Yadav blocked all her accounts However she soon began receiving messages from HDFC and IDFC banks regarding loan EMIs One EMI of Rs 45000 had been deducted from her account while another was paid by the scammers which she learned from her bank statementldquoI visited IDFC Bank and filed a complaint I was shocked to find that the scammer who had since switched off his phone had added his number as an alternative contact on my account and forged my signature What was more shocking was how easily it could be identified as a forgery yet the bank still sanctioned the loanrdquo she said Yadav plans to visit HDFC Bank to file a complaint there as wellShe questioned how the banks had added an alternative number to her account without her physical presence as this process typically requires the account holder to be present and banks usually verify the changes by calling the original number ldquoThe bank officials were shocked and assured me of a proper investigationrdquo Yadav told middayAccording to the Cyber Cell this is a rare case of cyber fraud where the victimrsquos documents were used to secure loans in this manner ldquoThere may be an insider involved or the scammers could have worked with a bank and exploited system loopholes We are investigating furtherrdquo said a senior officer from the Cyber CellCyber safety tipsgtgt Donrsquot accept unknown callsgtgt Donrsquot click on unknown emails URLs QR codes etcgtgt Donrsquot accept friend requests from strangersgtgt Donrsquot share personal details on social mediagtgt Always lock your social media profile and keep it privategtgt Use strong passwords and different passwords for each accountgtgt Set purchase limits on debitcredit cardsgtgt In case of cybercrime please report on the helpline no 1930