Retd Defence Officer Duped Of Rs 95L In ‘Biggest’ Cyber Fraud In Odisha

Bhubaneswar: In what is being termed as the biggest cyber fraud in Odisha, a 61-year-old retired defence officer has been duped of Rs 95 lakh on an insurance policy.

A resident of Odisha capital, he lodged a complaint with the Cyber Cell of the Odisha Crime Branch on January 3.

According to sources, the victim had purchased an insurance policy worth Rs 6 Lakh in January 2011. In August 2015, he received multiple telephone calls from different persons, who introduced themselves as officials of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), State Bank of India (SBI), Income Tax and Union Finance Ministry, asking him to pay a certain amount to liquidate the ‘agent bonus’ on his policy. They also assured him of hefty returns on the amount deposited.

Without verifying authenticity, he started depositing money in the bank account number shared by the accused. The fraudsters continued to ask him to transfer more money on the pretext of other purposes related to the policy.

Between August 2015 and recent times, the victim transferred a whopping Rs 95 lakh to the account.

Police have registered a case under Sections 419 (cheating by impersonation), 420 (cheating), 465 (forgery), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using forged documents to be genuine), 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (act done by several persons with a common intention) of the IPC and relevant sections of the IT Act.

Further investigation is underway.