Rs. 9,55,974 polished from the accounts of doctor, teacher and a professional

Mysore/Mysuru: From crypto to credit card frauds, techies, bank professionals, teachers, graduates and professionals comprise the largest pool of victims of online scams. As per a Police estimate, nearly 95 percent of cyber complaints are lodged by educated people and working professionals.

It is a myth that the educated will not fall prey to cyber frauds. Scamsters use their skills to convince victims to invest in fraudulent schemes or install fake apps giving remote access or reveal confidential details such as OTP. Often, victims transfer more and more till they empty their accounts in the hope of getting the entire amount listening to false assurances.

Cyber criminals convince them in such a way that they easily share OTP or click on the dubious links sent by the crooks. Take the example of this doctor from the city who lost Rs. 5.98 lakh from his bank account as he was asked by cyber criminals to click a link to update his PAN.

OTP update con

Conmen sent a message to Dr. K.N. Veeresh Kumar, a doctor operating from N.R. Mohalla, asking him to click a link to update his PAN. Unaware of the criminal intent, the doctor clicked on the link and as directed in the message, he entered the OTP. Within moments, Rs. 5.98 lakh was withdrawn from his account.

S. Sumathi, a working professional and a resident of Lokanayakanagar in Metagalli too received a message on her mobile that she has to immediately update her PAN by clicking the link. She too opened the link and updated the OTP and Rs. 74,987 was stolen from her account.

Bank App closed trick

Likewise, Sushma Shivakumar, a resident of Ramapura in Hanur taluk of Chamarajanagar district got a message on her WhatsApp that her SBI YONO App account has been closed and she must update her PAN and enter the OTP within 10 minutes otherwise the App facility will be permanently disabled.

Panicked by the wordings of the message, Sushma Shivakumar clicked on the link and updated her PAN. She was directed to a page where she had to enter the OTP that was sent to her mobile phone. The moment she entered the OTP, Rs. 1,83,987 was withdrawn from her bank account.

House for rent fraud

The case of M. Baby Lathamani, a teacher and a resident of Vidyaranyapuram is unique as she had advertised in

magicbricks.com, an online platform, about the availability of her house for rent. After placing the advertisement, the teacher got a call from Mob: 86370-03487 and the caller expressed his desire to take the house on rent.

Talking impressively, the caller told Baby Lathamani that he liked her house and wanted to send the advance money as he did not want anyone else to book the house. Lathamani too was carried away by the conman’s words and shared her bank account details. The fraudster then tricked her to enter the OTP with which he withdrew Rs. 99,000 from her account within minutes.