Man robbed of ₹50K through online fraud

LUCKNOW Online thieves who posed as IRCTC officials on phone withdrew ₹ 50,000 from the bank account of a man employed with merchant navy, without asking for his password, ATM PIN or CVV number.

“They called me in the morning claiming to be from the IRCTC and asked only for the last four digits of my ATM card. Initially I was reluctant but finally told them, thinking that it was not the PIN. Yet they withdrew ₹50,000 in three transactions within minutes,” said Amit Sharma, a native of Harpur in Gosaiganj area of Lucknow.

Sharma, a motorman in the merchant navy, lodged a complaint in Gosaiganj police station on Thursday. “I fell in their trap because I was expecting a refund from IRCTC for cancelling a rail ticket,” Sharma added.

According to his compliant, the incident occurred on Monday when Sharma had gone for a visa interview at the US embassy. Sharma has also lodged a complaint with Delhi police regarding the same.

Though online frauds have become routine, the incident with Sharma has also intrigued the investigators. “The case is surprising because the thugs didn’t ask for the ATM PIN, OTP or CVV number. We will forward the complaint to the cyber cell for investigation,” said station house officer (SHO) of Gosainganj police station Balwant Shahi.

Sharma also reached the cyber cell office with his complaint directly but was told to return by officials there. “The officers at cyber cell informed me that they would automatically begin investigation the moment they were approached by Gosainganj police ,” said Sharma.

Reportedly, the fraud might have been conducted by one of the many gangs based in Chattisgarh. “The gangs operate in small groups and have a history of such frauds. Many of them have also been arrested but they keep on devising latest means to con innocent people,” said a senior officer with Lucknow cyber team, adding that ‘ only awareness about online conduct ’ could save people from falling prey to these criminals .