Cyber fraudsters targeting pensioners, authorities issue alert

New Delhi: Cyber fraudsters have found a new way to target innocent people and cheat them of their hard-earned money. The Central Pension Accounting office under the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance has noted that cyber fraudsters have been calling to pensioners to update their Life certificate by getting their data, and has alerted […]

New Delhi: Cyber fraudsters have found a new way to target innocent people and cheat them of their hard-earned money.

The Central Pension Accounting office under the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance has noted that cyber fraudsters have been calling to pensioners to update their Life certificate by getting their data, and has alerted pensioners to beware of fraud calls.

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“It has come to notice of this office that the cyber malefactors have been calling to pensioners to update their Life certificate by getting their data from somewhere as date of appointment, date of retirement, PPO number, Aadhaar number, e-mail, address, monthly pension, nominee etc,” said a recently issued office memorandum.

The letter said that the fraudsters call pensioners with their data to convince them that they are calling from Pension Department and ask the pensioners to share OTP for updating their Life Certificate. Once they get OTP from pensioners, the fraudsters get direct access to their bank accounts and transfer the amount from pensioners’ account to a fraud account.

“In this regard, all the pensioners are cautioned to beware of these types of fraud calls and intimated that no person on behalf of CPAO calls to pensioners to ask any detail or share OTP. Therefore, all the pensioners are advised not to share OTP or any other details etc. for any updation for pension to avoid such frauds,” said the letter.

While police and other enforcement agencies keep taking action against such cyber fraudsters, it has been found that they come up with newer ways to target gullible people. Like, in the last couple of months, many users have been receiving messages through SMS from unknown numbers which claim that the user’s electricity, telephone or other connections will be disconnected unless they contact a certain number.