Editor Mr.Mayank Rawat ( Chief Editor Mr. Rohit Mishra )
New Delhi: “I lost everything. These were my life savings, earned in decades of teaching. My first salary, a mere Rs 2,000 in 1997, was deposited in this very bank account. I was saving money for a house,” said a distraught Renu Viswanath, who retired as headmistress of a south Delhi school. Cyber fraudsters had wiped out over Rs 47 lakh from her account.
The complaint states that on March 25, Viswanath, 60, received a message warning her that her bank account would be suspended unless she completed a video KYC update. “I had received several such SMS messages, but when I got a picture on WhatsApp that looked quite legitimate, I thought I should reach out to what I thought were my bank people as early as possible. Otherwise, I thought they would suspend my account,” Viswanath told TOI.
She was directed to call a helpline, where a bank official supposedly guided her through the process. “Everything from his voice to conduct was eerily polite and I just trusted him,” Viswanath recalled. The FIR mentions that the scammer had sent a link to an APK file, which she downloaded and installed, believing it to be a legitimate KYC update process.
Over the next few hours, she followed the instructions the man gave, while several transactions drained her bank account. “I was on call for roughly an hour with the man, and step by step, he showed me how to add my details, including my debit card number and pin. The website interface looked exactly the same as that of the bank,” the former teacher said. The scammer kept her engaged, assuring her that the update was still in progress.
By the time she realised something was wrong, around Rs 47 lakh had been debited in 40 transactions from her bank account. “During the entire ordeal, I received one text messages after another about chunks of money being debited from my account. I asked him if that was okay and he said that this was the amount showing in the updated account,” Vishwanath said.
The next day, when she tried to contact the alleged bank representative, she found his phone switched off. She then visited her bank branch, where she discovered she had been defrauded. “I wish I knew better. I had saved this money over decades,” Viswanath exclaimed. “My first salary was credited to this account. What is of concern is that many teachers from the same school are associated with this bank and they too received such KYC update messages. While some of them said they would do it soon, luckily no one ever did.”
A case has been registered under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita’s sections 318 (cheating), 319 (cheating by personation) and 61 (criminal conspiracy). The investigation has been assigned to the cyber police station in Saket. The cops are pursuing the suspects and working to recover the stolen amount.
Mayank Rawat
