72-year-old man falls prey to Rs 11 lakh cyber fraud

A 72-year-old man lost his hard-earned savings of his life as he fell victim to a cyber fraud of Rs 11 lakh.

Taking swift action, the Ludhiana cyber cell police registered a case under Sections 319 (2) and 318 (4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) against unidentified miscreants on Wednesday.

The incident occurred on the evening of September 17 when the victim, Rakesh Khanna, a resident of Dr Sham Singh Road, here, who was staying alone, tried to lodge a complaint about inordinate delay in the delivery of a LPG cylinder. Since the helpline 1906 was not working, he searched online for help and landed in a trap of online fraudsters, who posed themselves as customer care executives from Indane. During the conversation, the fraudster won the trust of the senior citizen and told him to share Rs 10 for the KYC fees, stating that the payment was part of a latest government guideline for availing subsidy and delivery of a cylinder. The fraudsters sent a particular link to him on WhatsApp. Soon after making an online payment of Rs 10, Khanna found Rs 11 lakh deducted from his bank account.

The money was transferred into 22 accounts (Rs 50,000 each) of different banks, including Bandhan Bank, Axis Bank, NSDL Payment Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Central Bank of India, Union Bank, Indian Bank and HDFC Bank. The money was withdrawn majorly in Assam, Mumbai, Delhi and Rajasthan. Khanna, who was suffering from a leg fracture, somehow, managed to reach out to the AU Bank branch on Mall Road and stopped further payments.

He said even the bank’s so called robust cyber security system could not avert the transactions, adding that he did not receive any call from bank’s cyber security department, which could avert the fraud.

He has urged the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to direct Google for removing fake websites of LPG companies and the firms should spread awareness about such sites. He has also urged the authorities concerned to give banking licence to only those banks which were having a strong cyber security system.