Hello everyone.....mobile beep made me a `millionaire'...
Mobile beep made me a `millionaire' overnigh
I had first dismissed it to be a
technology glitch. Maybe someone had entered my cellphone number in the banking
system by mistake, I had thought. So my first complain was to the Punjab
National Bank's helpline number. I lodged a verbal complaint, and later, when
the matter wasn't resolved, a formal complaint. The SMSs, however, kept pouring
in.
Every time that I called the bank, first to draw attention towards the SMSs and then to establish the fact that none in my family (and their immediate predecessors) ever had a PNB account anywhere in India, the caller at the other end patiently heard me out, apologized slightly and promised to rectify the glitch. It never happened.
I'm not a multi-millionaire, but like several others, I do
wish to be one. For the last two months, however, a PSU bank has fulfilled my
dream, albeit temporarily. dream, albeit temporarily.
The SMSes had a pattern to it. It referred to transactions in one particular bank account - PNB Ac No XXXX XXXX 0000 2162. For the crores stashed in the account, the `original' account owner seemed to withdraw only a few hundreds and thousands by ATMs (and always a non-PNB Bank ATM). For example, on January 12, a little after 2pm, Rs 100 was withdrawn from the ATM, leaving a balance of Rs 44.70 crore.
Ten days later, on January 22, again a little after 2pm, Rs
2600 was withdrawn. The balance the showed Rs 4.7 crore.PNB, however, didn't
send SMSs of transactions that left only Rs 4.7 crore from a whopping Rs 44.7
crore. This indicated my phone number was clearly being used to trigger alerts
only for low-value ATM transactions.
It is baffling to unravel, how can the same savings account
be linked to two cellphones? One, for argument's sake, to the original account
hol der obviously for the high-value over-the-counter transactions or cheque
transactions. The other to me for low-value ATM transactions. It was such
questions that prompted me to lodge a formal complaint with the Cyber Crime
Police Station at the Howrah Police Commissionerate.
What I was told there was
equally puzzling. It appeared that a SIM bearing the same number I use was
`purchased' from a different mobile-service provider on July 8, 2014. The
number, however, was largely inactive. People in the know claim this is an
impossibility. It, of course, did happen.
What I was told there was
equally puzzling. It appeared that a SIM bearing the same number I use was
`purchased' from a different mobile-service provider on July 8, 2014. The
number, however, was largely inactive. People in the know claim this is an
impossibility. It, of course, did happen.
For the moment, however, I have got
some respite from the incessant SMSs. Perhaps, the police did what my helpless
pleas to the bank couldn't. The flipside, `unfortunately', is that I have
stopped being a multi-millionaire. But not being one, perhaps, has its
advantages.
Police is investigating the case. I will forward the police complaint to the RBI, too, for intimation. The experience, however, has left me with an uncanny fear. A fear that simply refuses to go away.
For News….
Comprehensive, up-to-date news coverage,
aggregated from sources all over the world
India's most trusted destination for latest
India news, international news, top stories,
newspaper columns, discussions, interviews and more.
Latest News, News Today, Current News, Breaking News, India News, Today's News, World News, Live News.
No comments:
Post a Comment