Cyber Fraud: Phone Recharge For Rs 349 Costs Woman Rs 4 Lakh In Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar A woman in Odisha capital fell victim to cyber fraudsters and lost around Rs 4 lakh while recharging her phone number for Rs 349 through a digital payment platform last month.

The victim, identified as Usharani Behera of Kaptipada area in Mayurbhanj, lodged a complaint in this regard with Khandagiri police station on Friday.

As per the complaint, Usharani, employed in a private college in the city, encountered some issues while recharging her phone number through a digital payment platform. “I recharged another phone number by mistake and asked the person to recharge my phone number, which he declined,” she told the media.

She then picked a number of the digital payment platform’s customer care service from the internet and sought help. A sum of Rs 99,989 was debited from her bank account on October 27 after she acted upon the advice of the fake customer care officials to solve her problems. Following which, she contacted the bank to freeze her account and also lodged a complaint with the Cyber police.

She met the bank manger the following day, seeking to withdraw the remaining money in her account but was instead asked to transfer those from Recurring Deposit (RD) to Fixed Deposit.

Despite this, Rs 1 lakh was debited in two transactions on October 29 and Rs 1.91 lakh on October 30. She suspect involvement of the bank official in the fraud and has urged the cyber police for appropriate action.