Jalandhar bizman’s wife loses Rs 1.25 lakh to cyber fraud

Jalandhar, July 3

A woman lost Rs 1.25 lakh to cyber hackers here. A complaint in this regard was lodged with the police today.

Chetan Dhir, who is a sports goods manufacturer at Basti Nau here, said his wife got a call from an unknown number last evening wherein the suspect said he was calling from Jio and she could be facing issues with the Internet speed.

“My wife checked the phone and noticed that the Internet was actually slow at that time,” said Dhir.

The caller told her that they do not need any OTP, PIN or password from her phone. “She was asked to dial *401* followed by her phone number. The moment she dialled the number, her phone got hacked within seconds. The caller also hacked her bank account and all other connected applications. The suspect also started sending messages to her friends through her WhatsApp asking them to transfer money to her account owing to some urgency,” said Dhir.

“A large number of friends and relatives called me asking what had happened with my wife and why was she asking for money. Two-three persons even transferred money even without asking us. They did not know that they were chatting with hackers and transferred around Rs 30,000 to Rs 40,000 in her bank account,” said the businessman.

He said: “We reported the matter to the Commissioner of Police. We came to know that the hackers are still sending messages to our friends and they are least scared of any consequences. When I called the imposter, he said he was from Bihar, stating that even cops could not nab him”.

Ravinder Dhir, uncle of the victim, said: “It is a new kind of a fraud. We have lost some money, which we will try to recover with the help of the police. Such frauds can happen with anyone. So, people should remain more careful while responding to any call or message from unknown numbers”.

Asked to dial *401* followed by number

“The caller told my wife that they do not need any OTP, PIN or password from her phone. She was asked to dial *401* followed by her phone number. The moment she dialled the number, her phone got hacked within seconds. The caller also hacked her bank account and all other connected applications,” said Chetan Dhir.