New Delhi: In today’s digital age, online scams have become a prevalent threat, targeting individuals of all ages and backgrounds. With the rise of technology and the widespread use of the internet, cybercriminals are continuously devising new ways to exploit unsuspecting victims for financial gain. Today’s story is based on a recent incident involving a doctor in his 70s who faced a harsh lesson.
According to reports from TOI, the 77-year-old doctor fell prey to an online scam, losing around Rs 3 lakh. The scam was perpetrated by someone pretending to be a representative of the electricity provider, who targeted the elderly doctor by claiming there were unsettled bills. Investigators suspect the involvement of an organized group behind this deceptive scheme. (Also Read: AI-Enabled Advanced Hearing Aids May Help People With Hearing Loss, Say Experts)
Threatening Message from Strange Number
The doctor shared his frightening experience, explaining that on February 23, he got a threatening message from a strange number claiming to be from BSES. The message said his power would be cut off right away if he didn’t pay overdue bills that day. Feeling pressured, the doctor called the number given and was pushed into paying Rs 10 for what he thought was an upgrade. Then, he was told to click on a link where he accidentally gave his debit card information. (Also Read: Flipkart Launches Its UPI Handle To Boost India’s Digital Economy Vision)
Registration of case
After ending the call, the doctor was surprised to find out that five transactions he didn’t authorize had taken a lot of money from his bank account. What was even more surprising was that he didn’t get any request for OTP verification while this was happening. He quickly told the cyber cell about what happened, and they registered a case under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, like cheating, impersonation, and criminal conspiracy.
E-wallet hacked
More digging into the scam showed how much damage it caused. The person behind it set up call forwarding to stop the doctor from getting calls and messed with his WhatsApp account by sending out inappropriate stuff. On top of that, the doctor’s e-wallet got hacked, and even his Aadhaar Card details were changed, showing how tricky the scam was.
Two more complaints on same number
The police said they got two more complaints about the same phone number, showing that there’s a group working together. They’re taking serious steps to catch the people involved, like looking at call records and internet details linked to the phone number. Several teams are working hard to find and catch the people behind this plan.