Scammers seem to be adapting to changes fast, as a spam e-mail offering unclaimed funds in Indian banks has been landing in the in-boxes of scores of email users these days.
The RBI recently directed the banks to take steps to disburse the about Rs 1,700 crore that were remaining unclaimed in various bank accounts in the country.
Taking the cue, an e-mail with the sender mentioned as Funds Remittance Department of RBI, New Delhi, “informs” that the recipient was entitled to unclaimed fund of $500,000.
“In order to receive the amount, the recipient is required to pay 17,500,” it says. As a first step, the account number and personal details of the recipient is sought.
“The e-mail is drafted in such a manner that an average person may believe that it was a mail from the RBI itself. The name of RBI governor Dr D. Subbarao is mentioned in the e-mail as well as the dates of certain meetings and certain reference numbers,” says R. Ramachandran, a resident here, who was among the scores of persons who received the e-mail.
Cyber police sources which confirmed the e-mail was a fake one, said a common characteristic of any such fraudulent mail was the demand for “payment” of a specified sum.
“Any such e-mail in which one is asked to remit money for a transaction shows it’s a fake one. We have been receiving a lot of complaints in this regard and there are even instances of people remitting the specified amounts,” said police hi-tech crime enquiry cell DySP Vinayakumaran Nair.
Since these mails originate from foreign countries, the police have limitations in probing the matter to their logical conclusion.