Cyber frauds trick Surat IG’s wife, steal Rs 1,37,023

AHMEDABAD: Cyber fraudsters stole Rs 1.37 lakh from the bank account of Dr Shalini Rajkumar Pandian, wife of Surat Range IG, Rajkumar Pandian, by convincing her to part with her bank details and transaction OTP number. The victim fell into the trap laid by fraudsters when she clicked on a customer complaint phone number available online. Hacking into websites and substituting customer complaint phone numbers and links with their own has become a new modus operandi of fraudsters to gain access to victims.

City cyber cell officials have reacted by putting the blame on the doors of banks and have written to them asking them not to process transactions even after OTP verification, but to call up the customer to verify whether he or she wants to proceed.

Cyber cell officials said Dr Pandian a resident of Sharnam–10 at Prahladnagar lodged a complaint on Sunday that she had gone to a saloon on March 27, but wanted refund of her money as she was unhappy with their services. In the FIR, she has stated that she searched online for the complaint form of the saloon on a search engine and found a link.

When she clicked on the link it took her to a complaint page. She submitted her complaint with her details and email id and submitted the form.

Same day on the evening she got a call from a man named Rahul Saxena who identified himself as an employee of the saloon chain and first apologized for the inconvenience.

He then told Dr Shalini that she would get refund of the Rs 3,000 she had paid and another Rs 10,000 as compensation for the inconvenience.

“The man also told her that their company will not be able to pay her back the money on vouchers or cash and hence they would need her bank details,” said a senior cyber cell official.

An investigator said that Dr Shalini, who works as a professor in a private university, provided the man her bank details and within some time she received four OTPs on her cellphone.

“This raised doubts in her mind and she confirmed by dialling the bank customer care number that no money has been withdrawn from her account,” said an investigator. Cyber cell officials said that on March 28, she again got a call from one Rohan, who told her that they had received Rs 13,000 from a saloon for transfer to her account and asked her to provide him the OTP.

“Dr Shalini immediately got an OTP which she gave to the man. Then, at about 1.30pm a total of Rs 1,37,023 was withdrawn from her account,” said a cyber cell official.

Rajkumar Pandian, who is currently posted as Range IG-Surat, said the bank should have acted in more responsible manner.

“We are writing to all banks to ensure that even when an OTP is verified by the account holder they should confirm with the customer whether to go ahead with the transaction or not. We are also proposing they execute the transaction after a stipulated time so that the person who has provided his or her OTP gets time to realize what has happened.”

A senior cyber cell official said they have registered a case and will soon nab the accused. “However, awareness about online transactions need to be increased. It is an embarrassment for us if the wife of a senior police official, who herself is a professor, gets cheated in such a way,” said a senior cyber cell official.