Delhi man loses savings after fake calls from bank, telecom firm

Arora said he was first contacted by a caller, who introduced himself as a customer care executive from a bank offering him a credit card. (Representational Image)

A phone call for a credit card, a barrage of international calls, and extortion messages for Chinese Yuan in bitcoin. By the end of the ordeal, Dinesh Arora (60), an electronics goods store owner in Khan Market, got one final message on his smartphone: “You have exceeded your bank limit”.

Arora was a victim of a coordinated cyber attack in which he lost Rs 1,37,000. Five months after the attack, police are yet to make headway in the case and suspect that it was carried out by a group of criminals. An FIR in the case was finally lodged on October 3.

Arora said he was first contacted by a caller, who introduced himself as a customer care executive from a bank offering him a credit card. “I thought he was a genuine employee as the Truecaller app also showed the bank’s name. He convinced me to give out my credit card and Aadhaar card details,” he said.

The first signs of the fraud were found when Arora started receiving extortion messages. “Send me 1,100 chinese yuan thru bitcoin. If no send by then ur cell phone, laptop, iPad, tablet, SIM in problem (sic),” the message read.

Soon after, Arora said he received over 130 international calls. “When I would pick up, nobody would answer,” he said.

Arora then reached out to his telecom service provider and also filed a police complaint.

A few days later, he received a call from a man posing as a customer care executive from the service provider. He asked Arora to swap his iPhone with an Android to stop receiving calls and messages. After five days, when he switched back, he found a message from his bank, informing him that he had exceeded his bank limit and that his savings had been wiped out.