Rs 68K Fraud Via ‘PhonePe’ In Odisha

Soundarjya Manjari of Kendrapara on Thursday was cheated of Rs 68,484 by fraudsters via payments app PhonePe.

She has lodged an FIR with the cyber cell of Crime Cuttack in Cuttack.

According to sources, she received a phone call purportedly from PhonePe. The fraudster informed Manjari about a prize money that she had won and asked her for a processing fees of Rs 5,000. The unsuspecting lady clicked on a PhonePe link sent by the fraudster and unknowingly transferred the amount.

The conman seeing Manjari’s ignorance asked her to install ‘Any Desk’, a remote assistant app on her phone. Manjari did so and gave them access to control her device. The fraudsters whisked away more money from her account in two installments totaling up to Rs 68,484.

“The transactions seem to have been done by UPI. Police can track who has received the money,” said IT expert Chandra Sekher Biswal.

Banks and police have repeatedly warned people not to indulge in any random call announcing prize or lottery wins and share sensitive data such as bank pin and password,