Man loses Rs 1.59L to cyber criminal

Tribune News Service
Ludhiana, November 21

A resident of Shimlapuri here has lost Rs 1.59 lakh to cyber criminals. The police have registered a case of fraud after a two-month inquiry.

The victim, Gurdeep Singh said on August 14, he went to withdraw cash from an ATM of Union Bank. The moment he tapped “withdrawal” option, there was a power cut and the machine switched off. He, however, received a message for withdrawal of Rs 7,000 from his account.

Two days after, he went to the bank to file a complaint. The bank authorities gave him a toll-free number of customer care where he lodged his complaint.

On August 19, he got a call from a person posing as a bank employee. The caller told him that Rs 7,000 would be credited back to his account within a few days. “The caller asked me to share an OTP received on my phone. The moment I shared that code, I got a message that Rs 99,999 has been withdrawn from my account. Soon, I received another message for withdrawal of Rs 50,000 and yet another for Rs 2,100. A total of Rs 1.59 lakh was withdrawn from my account by the cyber criminal,” said the complainant.

The complainant had demanded registration of a case against the bank officials. But the police found no banker was involved in the fraud. The police have registered a case against unknown persons.