Please keep at least Dh3,000 in account: Scamster advises UAE resident

Dubai - A resident of Al Ain said he lost no money though the scamster hacked into his account twice as there was no money left in the account.

"For better banking, please keep at least Dh3,000 cash balance in your account and be careful not to withdraw all the money." It was an advice Indian expat Mathew Joy Chacko received from a scamster who attempted to steal from his bank account.
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Chacko said he lost no money though the scamster hacked into his account twice as there was no money left in the account.

A resident of Al Ain, Chacko got into trouble after a he posted a complaint on his bank's social media account. "I tried to contact them through the call centre, but had to wait for 35 minutes. Then, I cut the call and posted on the bank's social media page that I couldn't connect to a call centre staff."
Within 10 minutes, he received a message on social media from a person who claimed he is from the bank's customer care centre. "He asked for my phone number and I gave it without any suspicion."

The hacker's work started there. He immediately called Chacko and said sorry for not attending the call earlier. "It sounded so genuine that I had no doubt though I had heard from many people about such fraudsters. He assured me that the bank would resolve my complaint immediately. He asked for my debit card number and I gave it to him."

Then, the fraudster told him that for verification purpose, he had to provide the number sent to him by the bank. "I was busy at work but wanted to resolve the problem. So, I didn't read the entire message but gave him the one-time password (OTP) received from the bank. A few minutes later I received another OTP from the bank and I provided him with the same."

The fraudster assured Chacko that his complaint would be resolved soon and gave him the advice to not withdraw all the money in the future. An unsuspecting Chacko replied that he would follow the advice.

However, he realised about the blunder he committed within minutes when a bank staff called him. "They asked me whether I had submitted application for online banking and I said no. Then only I came to know that my account was being operated online from a foreign country by the hackers. I was lucky that I had no money in the account. If it happened near to my salary date, I would have lost it all," Chacko shared, urging everybody to be careful about such calls.

anuwarrier@khaleejtimes.com

• Dubai