Credit card fraud alert: ₹75 lakh stolen by mobile shop manager – What you can do to stay safe | Mint

Using a fraudulent credit card swiping scheme, a mobile shop manager conned his former colleague and three others of ₹75 lakhs, as per a media report. With an increase in the number of users of credit cards across the nation, such scams are also gaining traction.

How was the scam planned and executed?

The prime accused in the case, Lokesh Shah, a resident of Chopda, allegedly tricked the victims with promises of lucrative commissions and profits if they allowed him to use their credit cards to purchase mobile phones online. Still, after swiping for large sums of money through the acquired credit cards, Shah never made the pending bill payments.

Who alerted the authorities regarding the scam?

Ankit Vasava, one of the victims of the scam lodged the complaint after he realized he was scammed. He is a development manager at a private insurance firm.

He has earlier worked as a salesman at a mobile shop in 2020, where he was introduced to Shah. Shah was serving as the branch manager at the firm. Shah would often ask Vasave for his credit card to offer customers good deals. He even promised that he would settle the bills.

Later on Shah convinced Vasava to apply for multiple credit cards with his own name. Vasava followed the advice and received numerous credit cards with limits ranging from ₹3 lakhs to ₹6 lakhs. Vasava then handed over his credit card details to Shah under the assurance of making money through favorable mobile deals.

Then in December 2021, Shah proposed the idea of purchasing mobiles not just for their shop but for other traders offering better commissions. Vasava, drawn by greed, happily agreed and started receiving mobile shipments at his address. These shipments were then delivered by Vasava to customers recommended by Shah. Through the entire transaction, Vasava made a commission of about ₹300 per mobile set.

Further, even after changing jobs in 2022, Vasava continued to keep his faith in Shah with his credit card credentials and transactions. This happened as till then everything was fine and payments against the raised bills were regularly cleared by Shah. However, in August 2024, Vasava began receiving overdue notices from State Bank of India and Kotak Bank pertaining to his credit card bills.

Upon raising the same concern with Shah, Vasava was reassured that the payments will be cleared. Still, the situation remained unresolved. On August 12, Vasava went to Shah’s home, only to learn from his parents that he had not been home for the last two days. Further, on following up and checking the status of his 14 credit cards, Vasava found that a total of over ₹41 lakhs were due on the cards. On similar lines, Shah had also conned the mobile store of ₹2.62 lakhs.

Not only this, following the same pattern, Shah swiped credit cards of other victims. ₹20.10 lakh from Nikunj Reliya, ₹7.22 lakhs from Dipak Parashar, ₹7.15 lakhs from Bajaj Rohit. Once it was realized that this was a larger scam, the investigation was handed over to the economic offence wing.

How to keep yourself safe from such credit card scams?

It is very important for aspirational credit card users to understand this instrument clearly before applying for the same. Consider understanding the terms and conditions of the offered credit card before going for the product. Once you have the card then focus on:

Keeping your login details safe: Never share your credit card details like PINs, passwords, internet banking details among other confidential information with friends, family or anyone over WhatsApp or electronic mail. The above case gives us a clear lesson in the same.

Never make upfront payments without understanding them: It has been noticed in credit card scams that online scamsters con users by asking them to make payments in return of gifts, inheritance, taxes and prize money. One should strictly avoid such traps.

Never fall for short-term greed: Like in all financial matters. It is important for users of credit cards to avoid falling for short-term greed. Don’t make any payments in return of offers, discounts, cash-backs etc easily without understanding them.

Understand and avoid phishing and viruses: Scamsters trick customers into disclosing credit card numbers, expiry dates, and CVV numbers over emails, phone calls, text messages, and snail mails. Familiar logos, email templates, and even web pages that look similar to the real ones are used to carry out such scams. Hence, one should avoid such attempts along with all shady links, hyperlinks and messages to keep themselves protected.

Set a payment limit and keep and check the same: All credit card companies provide the customers with the facility to set payment limits for PoS transactions, ATM withdrawals, other digital payments etc. One should use the provided tools effectively and set the payment limit to the minimum amount depending on their day to day needs.

In conclusion, it is hence important for credit card users to follow due diligence and keep a constant eye on their credit card transactions to ensure that they are able to use the service judiciously along with preventing themselves from falling for credit card frauds.

(Note: Using a credit card carries its own set of risks)