Navi Mumbai: A 67-year-old retired man trying to find his bank’s helpline number through Google fell victim to a cyber thief who impersonated as a bank employee. The scammer deceived him under the pretense of helping, and transferred Rs 4.54 lakh from his bank account to another account. The Panvel city police have filed a complaint against the unknown cyber scammer for fraud and under the IT Act and have begun their investigation.
About The Case
The victim, Ashok Saxena, resides in Panvel with his family. In the month of February, he was trying to contact SBI bank. However, after not receiving any response from the bank, he attempted to find the SBI helpline number on Google following which, a conman contacted him, pretending to be an SBI employee and offered help. The scammer then engaged Saxena in conversation and instructed him to update the ‘Yono’ app on his mobile phone as per his guidance.
Trusting the scammer, Saxena began entering information into the app as directed. Meanwhile, the cyber thief transferred Rs 4.54 lakh from Saxena’s account to another bank account. Upon receiving a message about the transaction, Saxena inquired about the same with the scammer, who provided vague answers to keep him engaged. Subsequently, the scammer attempted to withdraw Rs 3.75 lakh money from Saxena’s fixed deposit of Rs 5 lakh. Saxena again asked the scammer about the message about the same for which the conman again started giving vague answers.
Saxena suspected something fishy and disconnected the call immediately and kept his phone switched off. “After the complainant gave a complaint to us, we investigated the matter and registered the case. The case is being investigated further,” a police officer from Panvel City police station said.
After receiving another message about this transaction, Saxena asked the scammer again, but he was given false reasons to delay. Suspicious, Saxena immediately turned off his phone. When he visited the bank for clarification, he was informed that ₹4,54,000 had indeed been transferred to another account, but that the amount in the fixed deposit remained in the bank. Afterward, Saxena filed an online complaint with the Navi Mumbai Cyber Police, and later he reported the matter at the Panvel city police station.
