PhonePe — fraud by a person pretending to be phonepe executive

Hello sir/madam,

I would like to inform that i received a call and got trapped in a phone call received by a person pretending to be phonepe agent and was cheated.

I received a call today morning around 07:22 am from an unknown number ([protected]) stating the he being a phonepe executive and would like to discuss and resolve the matter logged with phonepe regarding "unable to add axis bank atm cum debit card" (Ticket no. 2510874), to which i promptly said that today is sunday i. E. 15/10/2017 and you are calling me so early that to, why? He simply ignored my concern and started by telling that we are here to resolve your matter and problem. He said that in order to resolve your issue, we have to unload (Empty) sbi debit card account from your phonepe account and then add again after adding axis bank debit card. I said that why is it required? He said that it is required. Initially he started with debit card and cvv verification (Sbi debit card no. [protected]) by asking the details and i provided the same being a fool. I neither did strike me that none of the person nor bank representatives are required to ask otp, cvv, pin, mpin or other confidential info due to security reasons. Then to begin with he initiated first transaction for "mobikwik - gurgaon" wallet amount inr 4, 999.00 and had received an otp to confirm the transaction at around 07:24 am and had provided the otp to that guy over phone. Immediately the amount got debited from my sbi account no. Ending with xx5946. He did not sound much of a genuine person so i asked his name and said that his name is 'rahul sharma', meanwhile he processed another transaction for "oxigen wallet - gurgaon" for amount inr 4, 000.00; received the otp and had helped him with the same. (Foolish thing i did in my life, feeling helpless & dithered now). I intervened before he was to ask or make next transaction. I asked 'why is the amount getting debited? Is this the process. Better don't fool me. I shall go to police station to submit a report against you if found fraud'. He replied that sir don't worry you will get the refund as i am processing it as there is small issue in the system. Be rest assured. (Cheater). As soon as that happened so my conscience did not allow me to proceed further the remaining balance which around 15, 000.00 inr, i transferred it to my another sbi account. I kept on telling him that process the refund then we shall continue but he said relentlessly that i am trying a there is some issue in the system. He that said that did you make any transaction as earlier there was around 25, 000.00 inr in your account and now it is not showing that (Was shocked) how did he know that i had around 25, 000.00 inr in my account. Further to his trap, he said that you need to reverse the transaction and get back that money on your account then only whole refund will be processed else you will loose your money so i continued under the wish to get the money back and did the reverse transaction. He performed the transaction towards "ideamoney - mumbai" for amount inr 4, 999.00. I received the otp and helped him with it, he carried out the transaction. After that he carried out two more transactions towards "payzapp wallet - bangalore" and "oxigen wallet - gurgaon" amounting inr 9, 000.00 and inr 1, 000.00 respectively. I was waiting for the refund to be processed but who knew??? As soon as the last transaction completed, call disconnected. I tried to call him on the received number but it was unreachable (Tried 2-3 times). Even i tried to locate/trace his location from internet, all in vain as it showed identified.in all this l lost around inr 23, 998.00 and had learned as lesson that not to trust or rely on another person pretending to be bank executive or agent and never to reveal confidential info to anyone.

P. S. I accept that it is purely my fault but the indian system could be more better to avert such fraudulent calls or traps.

Also let me know that what initiative can i take to avoid such calls. I registered fir at adajan police station, surat, gujarat-395009 regarding the fraud happened with me but in vain as they said straight away that we can't help in this matter.

Take strict action against those who are duping innocent people and stealing their hard earned money.

Bhavin