Companions beware…!

I thought I should share a recent incident of cyber crime with you all. Though it looks bit odd but the fact is that I have been the victim of false transactions from my credit card with my pocket fully punctured. I have been using credit card for long almost seventeen years or so from the most reputed and safe bank of our country, the State Bank of India (SBI).

Even before the recent ‘Go cashless’ drive, I used to be cashless from long ago and was too confident on my transactions and the safety involved. This myth got shattered few days back when I received the following messages within few minutes span on my mobile:

– Rs. 50.00 was spent on your SBI card at GOOGLE *SERVICES on 9 Jun 17 – message received at 09.06.2017; 12:05:46
– Rs. 6800.00 was spent on your SBI card at GOOGLE *Droidhen on 9 Jun 17 – message received at 09.06.2017; 12:08:04
– Rs. 13700.00 was spent on your SBI card at GOOGLE *Droidhen on 9 Jun 17 – message received at 09.06.2017; 12:09:02
– Rs. 13700.00 was spent on your SBI card at GOOGLE *Droidhen on 9 Jun 17 – message received at 09.06.2017; 12:09:18
– Rs. 13700.00 was spent on your SBI card at GOOGLE *Droidhen on 9 Jun 17 – message received at 09.06.2017; 12:09:32
– Rs. 13700.00 was spent on your SBI card at GOOGLE *Droidhen on 9 Jun 17 – message received at 09.06.2017; 12:09:44
– Rs. 13700.00 was spent on your SBI card at GOOGLE *Droidhen on 9 Jun 17 – message received at 09.06.2017; 12:09:59
– Rs. 13700.00 was spent on your SBI card at GOOGLE *Droidhen on 9 Jun 17 – message received at 09.06.2017; 12:10:06
– Rs. 13700.00 was spent on your SBI card at GOOGLE *Droidhen on 9 Jun 17 – message received at 09.06.2017; 12:10:17
Further, no transactions were possible and the next transaction of Rs. 13700.00 was declined due to insufficient credit limit.
In a nutshell, Rs. 1,02,750 (equivalent to 1604 USD or 1253 GBP) were transacted within a span of five minutes. All these transactions were approved without any OTP received to authenticate the transactions.
I immediately called the customer care and blocked the card and reported matter to the customer care as well as the cyber crime cell.

Though the matter is under investigation, I though it wise to alert all my companions so that they are doubly sure of the online usage of their cards and ensure extra protection for the transactions.