Daijiworld Media Network - Puttur (ANK)

Puttur, Jan 3: It was an unpleasant weekend just before the start of the New Year for Mohammed Haneef, who became the victim of a debit card fraud and lost a whopping Rs 1,02,000 on the night of December 30.

On December 30, at around 11:48 pm, Mohammed Haneef was at his residence and received an SMS from the bank about the withdrawal of money from his State Bank of India account. Offenders had withdrawn Rs 50,000 twice for a purchase and Rs 2,000 cash was withdrawn from an ATM in Goa.

The very next day Mohammed Haneef visited State Bank of India branch located in Uppinangady to seek clarification about the lost money. Bank officials confirmed that money was withdrawn from his account. Bank records showed that Rs 1 lac was deposited by POS to a 'Travel Boss' account located in Mumbai and the remaining Rs 2,000 drawn from Anjuna beach bank ATM located in Goa.

Later, Haneef lodged a complaint at Uppinangady police station and urged the bank officials to return the lost money. He also demanded stringent action against the offenders.

Haneef also requested the bank officials to freeze his bank account. The bank manager assured to take appropriate action to ensure he gets back his money.

People often fall prey to fraud calls asking for ATM password and become victim of such frauds. It is suspected that in this case, the offender might have used a duplicate of Haneef's debit card. Haneef also suspected the involvement of bank officials in the fraud.

Speaking to daijiworld, Mohammed Haneef said, "It is a mystery to me that anybody can access the password of my debit card to avail Rs 1 lac for purchase and withdraw Rs 2,000 cash from an ATM in Goa. It is impossible to obtain money with such ease without the involvement of bank officials," he alleged.