MUSCAT, Feb 3 - Two alert bank customers staved off attempts by online spammers to con them.
A resident of Mawaleh received a call from the number 94612615 saying he had not updated his bank account.
“The caller told me in Hindi, Urdu and English that I had not updated my account and if I did not so, I would lose my account forever.” “After giving out partial details of my account number, he asked for the password to my account. I refused and disconnected the phone, while threatening that I would report to the police,” he said.
In another incident, a resident of Ruwi received a message claiming to be from a bank.
It said: “Dear customer, your ATM card has been blocked because you did not update it. If you want your ATM card to work properly, then contact this number immediately.” Shafnas, another Ruwi resident, had a similar experience. The caller spelt out the first four digits of the debit card and asked for the remaining four numbers.
“When I declined, he (the caller) threatened that my account would be closed.”
A maintenance supervisor recently lost RO 2,507 after a call by a representative of a leading retail outlet. Claiming that he had won RO 5,000 in a lucky draw, the caller asked for the account details for transferring the prize money.
“My wife shared the account details to the caller, which resulted in RO 2,507 being stolen from my account,” he told the Observer.
The Cybercrime investigation department has urged citizens and expats not to share bank card details to anyone as bankers will never ask for account details on phone, SMS or email.
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