Caller posing as bank representative dupes army officer of Rs 1 lakh

LUCKNOW: An Army officer has been conned out of Rs 1 lakh by a person who identified himself over phone as a representative of a nationalised bank and promised to help recover Rs 2,000 that was erroneously debited from the victim’s account during an ATM transaction.
Cyber cell investigators are not ruling out an insider role in the ingenious swindle. Unconfirmed sources also said the call had been traced to Bengal.
Manoj Kumar (27), an officer of the Military Engineer Services (MES) in Lucknow, had tried to withdraw Rs 2,000 from an automated teller machine of a PSU bank at Sadar Bazaar on May 31.
Owing to some technical snag, the ATM did not dispense the cash, but the amount was anyway debited from Kumar’s savings account with another bank. He registered an immediate complaint on the toll-free number of his bank and was assured that the money would be reverted to his account within seven working days.
According to the FIR, Kumar received a call from an unknown number on June 2. The caller claimed to be a bank representative and gave details of the ATM transaction, including Kumar’s card number, to win trust. He then asked the army officer to share the OTP that would allow the bank to revert the money to the account.
Kumar received two back-to-back OTPs on his registered mobile number and shared both with the caller. Within minutes, Rs 1 lakh was withdrawn from his savings account in two instalments of Rs 50,000 each.
Kumar lodged complaints with his bank and police on Thursday.
Cantonment station house officer Ranjana Sachan said they were investigating the case. “Our cyber crime cell is on the job. Since the caller was privy to a lot of details related to the victim’s bank account, an insider role in the con cannot be ruled out,” he added.