GETCO employee loses Rs 5.18L in bank customer care scam

Rajkot: A 42-year-old GETCO employee has filed a complaint with Rajkot Rural cybercrime police after allegedly being duped of over Rs 5.18 lakh by fraudsters posing as bank customer care executives who tricked him into sharing credit card details on the pretext of cancelling a Card Protection Plan (CPP).

The complainant, Ketan Dholakia, a lineman posted at GETCO’s Metoda GIDC unit, alleged that unidentified persons impersonating Axis Bank customer care officials, including a woman identifying herself as “Priya Sharma”, orchestrated the fraud.

According to the complaint, Dholakia received a call on April 3 from a woman who introduced herself as “Priyanka” from Axis Bank customer care. She allegedly informed him that a CPP service with an annual charge of Rs 2,499 had been activated on his credit card. When he denied subscribing to the service, she told him that another executive would help him cancel it.

Soon after, another caller identifying herself as “Priya Sharma” contacted him from a different number and allegedly claimed that his existing credit card would need to be replaced to deactivate the service.

The fraudsters then guided Dholakia through procedures on the CRED application. Under the pretext of completing video and audio KYC formalities, they allegedly obtained his banking details.

Believing the callers to be genuine bank representatives, Dholakia followed their instructions. However, on April 6, while reviewing his transaction history on the CRED app, he noticed multiple unauthorised transactions across credit cards linked to four banks.

According to police, the accused withdrew Rs 97,850 from his Axis Bank card, Rs 77,250 from his HDFC Bank card, Rs 1.47 lakh from his ICICI Bank card and Rs 2,95,813 from his SBI card, taking the total fraud amount to Rs 5.18 lakh.

After discovering the fraud, Dholakia contacted the banks and blocked all four cards. He also reported the matter to the national cybercrime helpline, 1930, before lodging a police complaint.

Police have registered a case under relevant provisions of the IPC and the Information Technology Act. Investigators are analysing call records, WhatsApp communications and banking transaction trails to trace the accused.