Long thread - A cautionary tale of how my mom ( a sr. citizen) was tricked with the #PaytmKYC scam & how an unscrupulous portal @AmazonIN / an unrelenting bank @StanChartIN took advantage of the situation to make money, with no humane considerations made despite the pandemic. -1

On June 27th, I got a frantic call from my mom. She said that someone had called her to make a #PaytmKYC payment of 10 Rs & now she had @StanChartIN Credit card messages amounting up to Rs 3 lakhs plus an Rs 80,000 debit from her SBI bank account – 2

My wife and I quickly blocked her cards before more damage could be done. We were in Daman, while my Mom was in Mumbai distraught that she had been tricked into this. We decided to leave immediately, absolutely livid with ourselves for not having warned her of such frauds -3

We had never imagined something like this could happen to us. Imagine, if they could fool a Gynaecologist into this, what chance did people with no education have? Anyhow, we got to Mumbai and tried to figure out ways to control the damage. – 4

I asked her what had happened & how they did it. My mom said she got some SMSes for #PaytmKYC. Her backbone was operated on in Feb, so had been in a lot of pain. Today, she was feeling slightly better, so she decided to finally call the number given in the texts ( mistake 1) – 5

The person quickly got into action & after telling her to pay through the app (which obviously din’t work), said he'll send a link instead with a form that she will have to fill (mistake 2) to make the payment. It looked like a normal payment portal with 10 Rs, so she agreed – 6

He then said, that he will stay on call and guide her through the process and she agreed (mistake 3). She first tried her debit card. As soon as she used it, the screen showed an error. He asked her to hit BACK and try again with the same or a different card.– 7

She decided to now use her credit card (mistake 4). She filled up the fields & hit pay again. Again it showed an error. He asked her to hit BACK again & again & again. She was irritated, but just wanted to get it over with, so she did it several times.Finally, she cut the call– 8

But the damage had been done. Every time she had hit the back button some 50,000 Rs transactions were being done, and it had amounted to 3 lakh 80 thousand by the end of it! The fraudsters had hit the jackpot and my poor mom had lost a huge chunk of her hard earned money. -9

Also by keeping her on call, they had effectively stopped her from receiving calls from the bank that were being made to enquire whether she was using her card. She didn’t even realise that any transactions were being done, because she wasn’t putting any OTP anywhere -10

So I quickly checked her phone and realised that the fraudsters had managed to install remote access apps on my mom’s phone, that gave them access to her messages. So they had been getting all the OTPs and using them through multiple phones to make transactions instantly - 11

I dug into her Paytm account and figured out where these transactions had been done. They had bought some @nearbuy & @freecharge stuff through @amazonIN using the @Paytm gateway. We now had to act quickly, if we had any hope of recovering this money. – 12

So I quickly raised an online complaint on the @MumbaiPolice site and started sending mails to these portals, hoping they could stop fulfilment. I attached all transaction screenshots, cc number, police complaint and urged the vendors to block transactions – 13

I even tweeted to their service handles and added their founders to let them know that I had sent a mail and needed their help. To his credit @warikoo of @nearbuy quickly gave me his personal id and escalated the case ( Thanks @warikoo, your team really tried to help) -14

The @nearbuy and @freecharge teams got back asap with the complete list of transactions, their status & phone numbers. Unfortunately the fraudsters had bought corp. gift cards & other small cards, & everything had been already used to buy stuff on @amazonIN – 15

. @nearbuy had also looped in the @amazonIN fraud team, so we were hopin Amazon will help in stopping shipments of the articles bought with those giftcards. But Amazon being the BIG SHIT they are, said that we had 2go through the Police, to do that. So, our hopes were crushed – 16

Now, most people would have no clue how to go about stopping the fraud in its tracks. We had found a way. We had all the gift card numbers, @AmazonIN could have stopped the shipment of these items. But they chose to NOT HELP, in the garb of protocol. Really unfortunate. -17

The only recourse was to go through the traditional route. Where you had to lodge an FIR at the police station ( online complaint doesn’t work) and then submit the FIR to the banks, after which RBI may give back some of the money that was fleeced. -18

But that meant taking my sr. citizen mom with multiple health issues & low immunity to the Police station during a pandemic. With news of police officers getting infected by the dozen everyday, we really had no option. How could I risk mom’s health? What if she got the virus – 19

Plus, everyone we spoke to and wherever I read things, one thing was clear. As soon as my mom hit the link address sent by the fraudster to make the payment, she was culpable and the bank was not liable. In max. cases, Police doesn’t even lodge an FIR in such cases. – 20

Risking my mom’s health, was out of question. This is 1 of the primary reasons fraudsters are making merry during the pandemic. Coz, people can neither go to the police station, nor the bank. I had all the numbers that were used to do transactions, but I couldn’t lodge an FIR– 21

The @MumbaiPolice called, as I had lodged an online complaint. We requested thm to take cognisance of the situation & take my mom’s statement on call. I cld have gone to the station & taken my mom on VC with the police. But that was not the protocol. She had to go physically– 22

So effectively, we could'nt do anything. The banks wudn’t help & RBI would not give the money back, because we didn’t have the FIR. Police were polite, but they cudn't change protocol. I sincerely hope they consider such situations & make the online complaint more powerful – 23

Having lost all hope of recovering any money, we thought atleast we shud help Police nab the culprits. So we told the police we had all nos. used for the fraud. But they sed even with those, it was impossible to catch 'em. This was almost a month after the fraud. So v gave up– 24

We had also lodged a dispute with @StanChartIN about the transactions as my mom’s limit was 2.3 lakhs, but the fraudsters managed to use it upto 2.8 lakhs! On asking them why they allowed such a thing, they conveniently said that they do so on occasions. How convenient,right?– 25

1st their fraud detection software failed 2stop the blatant fraud (100s of transactions frm multiple nos. simulatneously using the same CC - an obvious fraud), and then they allowed it 2be over charged.Still @StanChartIN denied mom any reprieve coz she went to tht payment LINK–26

We had raised a dispute, hence we didn’t make the payment before the last date. Disregarding this, they charged her interest on the entire amount. Which is a whopping Rs 9900 and then they sent a bill of 2.3 lakhs, which we paid immediately. – 27

. @StanChartIN added a temp. reversal of 59,000 Rs, w/o consent-on which they charged interest in the subsequent months. Mom didn’t knw about this reversal & got a bill of 2000 Rs interest again in Sept. Effectively they charged her 11,000 Rs on the fraud they failed to stop. – 28

My mom has always paid her credit well before the due date, so for her this was even more traumatic. She called the bank multiple times, but they had no clear reason as to why they gave a reversal and why they charged interest. She had had enough, so she asked me to pay it. – 29

Today, I paid the entire amount, but I felt cheated – not only by the fraudsters, but also by @AmazonIn and @StanChartIN. They could have helped a senior citizen out during a pandemic, but they chose not to. Even the @MumbaiPolice could have changed protocol, but didn't. – 30

I now wait for the next statement frm @StanChartIN coz Im sure they wud've charged more interest on the interest they had been charging. Which I will pay & then ask them to shove their cards up their bottoms. 2everyone, educate your parents & save urself frm this kinda trauma-31

How to stop fraud?
a)Do not believe any smses/mails or calls you get for any online payment.
b)If u do get a call, tell them that u will make the payment & cut the call immediately.
c)Find out how u can make payment for any service through google, go to their link & then pay - 32

But in case anyone gets fleeced, here are the steps:
1.Block your cards
2.Lodge an online Police Complaint.
3.Check mobile for installed apps and delete them.
4.Figure out vendors from transactions done, through SMSes. -33

5.Take screen shots of all messages and send them to vendors with Card number, contact number and transaction screenshots.
6.Their fraud teams will get back to you with complete details of which numbers were used for transactions. -34

7.Go to nearest police station and get lodge an FIR. Insist on the same and do not relent, no matter what they say.
8.Take the FIR asap to the banks & report the fraud. RBI does give a major chunk of the money back, if all the steps are followed properly -35

http://9.Do  it within 3 days and you may get all your money back – Read this link to know more https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/wealth/spend/how-to-report-a-net-banking-debit-or-credit-card-fraud/articleshow/66967421.cms - 36

Do share this far & wide. Lockdown has seen a huge spike in the no. of online frauds & any of us can fall pray to it. As we have a long time before things normalize, it is vital that our loved ones know exactly how to stay safe or what to do in case they fall prey to a scam. -37

Will add good advice by people on my thread:
Senior Citizens might not anticipate a threat as easily as we savvy ones do. So it's best to keep a Credit Card with a very low credit limit, for them to pay their utility bills etc. _ great advice by @achinmaheshvri and @shilpaanand

Here's a screenshot of the apps installed by the scamsters. Atleast I think they are. SMS to phone/mail os the biggest issue as they got access to all OTPs.

This is really sound advice thanks - https://twitter.com/ManojAh18353899/status/1302927586255798274