Judge cautions people against scammers

The Madras High Court has asked people to be vigilant and not sendmoney, give details of debit or credit cards and online accounts and copies of personal documents to strangers.
Justice S Vaidyanathan of the Madurai bench recently dismissed anticipatory bail pleas of A R, Lakshmanan, former Manager of Kumbakonam branch of Tamil Nadu Mercantile Bank Limited and V Sankaran, Senior Manager of the same bank, against whom cases were registered by the Crime Branch, Thanjavur, for their involvement in a cheating case.
The case was registered against the two following a complaint from a victim who lost money.
While accepting the submission of Additional Public Prosecutor that the case has been transferred for further investigation to Cyber Crime Branch, the judge observed that people should avoid strangers, who asks for up-front payment via money order, wire transfer, international funds transfer, pre-loaded card or electronic currency.

The case of the prosecution was that by using current account and OD account numbers, fraudulent transactions were done by the two who had knowledge about the complainant's user name and password in respect of his internet banking transaction.
Suspecting the connivance of the bank officials into the alleged transaction, they were called for inquiry by the Thanjavur police.
"The criminals, who indulge in such activities, are generally regarded as Nigerian Scammers", the judge said.
The scammers used to send mass letters, messages and emails with the sole intention to defraud people, who easily fall into their tricks. No money would be disbursed to the victims by the scammers, the judge said.