An alarming incident of cyber fraud has come to light where a 73-year-old senior citizen in Bengaluru was duped out of his substantial savings of ₹25 lakh. The perpetrator, who convincingly posed as an executive from a nationalised bank, executed the elaborate scam on a Tuesday.
Tragically, the victim’s attempts to protect his funds were in vain. He promptly contacted his bank, urgently requesting them to freeze his account, but his pleas went unheeded. Three days after the devastating loss, he finally reported the crime to the East Division Cyber Crime Police, seeking assistance to recover his hard-earned money.
Shedding light on the harrowing experience, the victim, identified as Arun Kumar S., resides in CV Raman Nagar with his ailing wife and mother-in-law. He recounted how the fraudster, introducing himself as ‘Rahul Sharma’, a bank executive, contacted him under the guise of helping him update his Know Your Customer (KYC) details.
Mr. Kumar stated that the imposter offered to guide him through the process of downloading his life certificate and completing necessary KYC formalities for his pension account, a seemingly helpful offer that masked a sinister intent.
The conman then instructed Mr. Kumar to install a specific application file, deceptively named ‘BOI Pension Life Certificate Update.apk’. Upon installation, he was asked to input various personal and KYC details. Believing he was interacting with a legitimate bank representative, Mr. Kumar complied with these instructions in good faith.
Later, on October 8th, in the early hours between 2:05 a.m. and 2:18 a.m., Mr. Kumar received a series of emails from an address appearing as ‘Ho.boiomni@bankofindia.co.in’. These emails falsely confirmed the creation of new beneficiaries and the update of his life certificate. Concerned, Mr. Kumar promptly called Bank of India Customer Care to verify these suspicious activities and ascertain the security of his account.
During this call, the bank representative reassured him that his account was secure and reiterated the standard advice not to share any One-Time Password (OTP) or personal login credentials with anyone.
Despite the reassurance, and acutely aware of the potential for unauthorized access, Mr. Kumar explicitly asked for his account to be frozen as a precautionary step. However, according to his complaint, he was informed that this critical action could only be processed by his home branch.
Shockingly, just a few hours later, at approximately 7:30 a.m. on the very same day, Mr. Kumar started receiving alarming debit notifications. These indicated five separate Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) transactions, each for a staggering ₹5,00,000, draining a total of ₹25,00,000 from his account.
In response to Mr. Kumar’s formal complaint, the police registered an FIR on Friday. The accused now faces charges under various sections of the IT Act, 2000, including Section 66 (computer-related offences), Section 43 (damage to computer/computer system), Section 66(c) (identity theft through fraudulent use of electronic signatures or passwords), and Section 66(d) (cheating by personation). Additionally, charges have been filed under Section 318(4) (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, as investigations continue.