Bhawanipatna: An elderly couple in this town was allegedly defrauded of Rs 2.65 lakh after an unidentified caller, claiming to be a customer care executive of a private telecom firm robbed them of the money from their bank account.
The caller asked them to follow certain procedures for cash prizes worth Rs 20,000 and gifts on the occasion of New Year.
The victim was identified as Gangadhar Subudhi, a retired person of Sharma Colony in this town. The matter came to fore after he lodged a complaint at the Town police station and the Cyber Cell at the SP office in this town, Monday.
Reports said that, the fraudster, claiming to be a customer care executive of a telecom firm, called up Gangadhar and asked him if he was facing any problem with the services of the firm and asked for his personal details to resolve his problem.
Later, the caller said that he had won a mobile phone as gift and a cash prize of Rs 20,000 for the New Year. Subudhi followed his instructions when he was surprised that the caller on the other side managed to withdrew Rs 20,000 for five times through payment app Google Pay a total of Rs 1 lakh from his bank account without asking for the OTP.
Later, he also withdrew another Rs 45,000 from his account and Rs 1.20 lakh from the account of his wife. The couple lost a total of Rs 2.65 lakh in the fraud.
PNN