Tarun Karthick
Port Blair, 01 May 2024
In a distressing turn of events, a retired bank employee (senior citizen) residing in School Line, Port Blair, has become the latest victim of a sophisticated cyber scam, losing an amount of Rupees One Crore in the process. The victim, a retired bank employee, found herself ensnared in a web of deceit orchestrated by unidentified individuals posing as officials from various regulatory bodies and law enforcement agencies.
The ordeal began on the afternoon of March 7, 2024, when the victim received a call from a purported representative of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). The caller, alleged that her phone number was associated with illegal advertising and harassing messages. The caller then threatened of disconnecting her mobile connection, if action wasn’t taken. However, when the victim started probing the legitimacy of the call, the conversation abruptly ended.
Undeterred by the failed attempt, scammers struck again later that day. The victim received another call, this time from another phone number. The caller claimed affiliation with the Anti Corruption Bureau in Mumbai and made alarming accusations of money laundering activities linked to the victim’s purported Canara Bank account in Mumbai. Despite the victim’s insistence on her innocence and lack of ties to such accounts, the caller persisted, even dragging unrelated individuals, such as Mr. Naresh Goel, Chairman of Jet Airways, into the fabricated narrative. The conversation left the victim rattled and fearing imminent arrest if she dared to seek help.
The harassment didn’t end there. On March 8, 2024, the victim received yet another call from the same number and upon the victim expressing inability to speak at that particular time, the caller informed that she would receive a follow-up call in two hours. Subsequent phone and Skype calls, coupled with coercive tactics, coerced the victim into transferring a staggering sum of money as “security deposits.” Under duress, she transferred Rs. 20 lakhs through RTGS to an account, followed by additional transfers of Rs. 60 lakhs and Rs. 20 lakhs on March 11 and March 13, 2024 to other accounts of the fraudsters.