Cyber criminals continue to haunt

Nikhil Bhardwaj

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana August 4

Cyber crime continues to haunt residents in the city. This time, criminals stole Rs50,000 each from the accounts of a lecturer in government school and mother of a magistrate posted in Ferozepur.

GADVASU professor Dr Raj Sukhbir, who is victim Kamaljit Kaur’s husband, said: “The ATM belongs to my wife, who is a physics lecturer at Government School Gujjarwal. She has an account in the Axis Bank branch in Phullawal. Since my mobile number is attached with the account, I was stunned to see four transaction messages showing withdrawal of Rs60,000 (comprising two each withdrawals of 20,000 and 10,000) from the ATM. Out of Rs60,000, the transaction of Rs10,000 was reverted into my account. Hence my loss stands at Rs50,000,” Dr Raj told Ludhiana Tribune.

After reading the message, he suddenly checked the email and found the withdrawal messages. Dr Raj said when he inquired from bank, he was told that the money was withdrawn from some ATM in Khan Market, New Delhi.

He said recently he had read about the advice of ACP Cyber Crime Rupinder Kaur Bhatti regarding avoiding use of ATM cards at petrol pumps, but he had never ever used his ATM at petrol pumps. In fact, he said he had never used his ATM for shopping purpose even. “But still, the cyber criminals managed to dig a hole in my pocket. I have filed a complaint at PAU police station and have urged the police to bring the culprits to task as soon as possible so that the stolen money could be recovered,” he said.

He demanded that the Axis Bank compensate the loss as the cyber crooks sneaked into their security system to steal money. Joginder Singh, owner of Raja Electronics, said: “My daughter Harmilanjot Kaur is a magistrate posted in Ferozepur city. Today, my wife Varinder Kaur, who has an account in SBI branch in Kochar Market, went for shopping. When she swiped her card at a shop to pay her bills, it was declined showing nil balance. Later, when the balance was checked, only Rs166 were left. Two transactions of Rs38,000 and Rs12,000, respectively, were shown in the bank statement. We also tried to contact the Bank Manager from the spot, but he did not respond. We will meet CP RN Dhoke tomorrow to lodge a complaint,” Singh said.