Guwahati Couple Falls Prey to Cyber Fraud, Lose over Rs 7 Lakh
Amid the rising cases of cyber crimes, an elderly couple from Guwahati has fallen prey to these fraudsters.
According to sources, the fraudsters siphoned off over Rs. 7 lakhs from two different accounts belonging to the couple.
The victims are a resident of Geetanagar area of Guwahati.
The husband, identified as Dinesh Chandra Dutta, received a message from a special unidentified number that warned if they don’t recharge their electricity bill, the line will be cut off within the next few minutes.
In the message, they were asked to recharge a phone number with Rs. 100 or they will cut the electricity line.
After reading the text message, they immediately recharged the phone number.
The couple then noticed that their savings were siphoned off from their bank accounts.
Dinesh Dutta lost Rs. 4,13,900 from his account while his wife lost Rs. 3,47,100 from her bank account.
The wife said, "I heard my husband talking to someone over phone regarding electricity bill recharge. They were giving warning that if we don't recharge then they will cut within next few minutes. It was shocking because we had already paid the money. The caller said that they didn't receive any so we were asked to recharge again. Then they sent us a number to call. After calling on that number, he asked us to make a Rs. 100 recharge. My husband made the recharge but it wasn't accepted so they asked us to recharge from another phone. Then he took my phone to make the recharge. I heard them conversing with him giving directions to click on a link."
Dinesh Dutta said, "After they asked me to recharge Rs. 100, I made the payment through the APDCL app. Then they said there was a malfunction so try to recharge with a different phone. I made the payment from her account. He was directing me to click on some links. After hunting up the phone we received a message on both of our phones that out money has been debited. "
Dinesh immediately rushed to the bank to block their ATM cards.
It may be mentioned that recently, a gang of people including several women are noticed that they had started to loot cab drivers including Ola and Uber by making online bookings across Guwahati.
The fraudsters book the cab through online mediums and loot money worth thousands from their accounts. Several cases have been registered against these cab drivers at Dispur, Paltan Bazar and Chandmari police stations.
The fraudsters first book the cabs and call the drivers. Then they lie to the drivers saying that they are in urgent need of help as their relative is admitted to hospital. After the driver reaches the location, the fraudsters call them and ask them for monetary help. The fraudsters tell the drivers that an amount will be deposited in their bank account via another one which they will have to transfer to a QR code sent by them as their bank account is not working.
The victims receive a credited message after which they send the money to a QR code sent by the fraudsters, however, the credited message is later found to be fake. By the time they notice that they have been scammed, the fraudsters cancel the booking and turn their phones off.
