Retired cop from Narowal latest victim of phone banking fraud

NAROWAL: A retired traffic police officer from Narowal, Punjab is the latest to fall prey to a gang of telephone banking fraudsters.

Aslam Mukhtar, a retired traffic cop, lost Rs0.3 million – his entire life’s savings – after sharing his bank details on a phone call from an alleged bank’s helpline. Soon afterwards, the money disappeared from his account.

“I had saved the money for my daughters’ weddings,” Mukhtar lamented, adding that he has reported the fraud to the Federal Investigation Agency. The bank has also reportedly notified its head office about the latest incident of online fraud.

A string of similar incidents of cyber fraud have surfaced in the recent months, with a number of unsuspecting citizens falling prey to hackers looking to extract sensitive information from them.

Last month, a retired scientist, Dr Yousuf Khilji, lost his savings worth Rs2.7 million from his bank account in suspected fraud transactions. He was, however, returned the money after the Federal Investigation Agency sent a notice to the concerned bank.

Authorities have advised citizens not to share any sensitive information, such as bank card and account details, with anyone on the phone.