Bhubaneswar: Jeypore MLA Tara Prasad Bahinipati has lost Rs 2.5 lakh to cyber fraudsters, who promised the legislator to award cement dealership in his brother’s name.

Bahinipati disclosed this today while urging people to remain careful about cyber crimes in the state.

“I received a phone call from an unidentified person some days ago. The caller offered me to arrange a cement dealership for anyone in my family. He told me that his company needs a deposit of Rs 4 lakh for awarding the dealership while other companies are seeking Rs 10 lakh for the same,” said the MLA while disclosing details about the fraud.

The caller had asked Bahinipati to deposit Rs 4 lakh in his account after the Jeypore legislator expressed his willingness to get cement dealership in his younger brother’s name.

“The caller also asked me to share my account number for future financial transactions. I got an OTP once I shared my account number with the caller. He withdrew Rs 4 lakh from my account after I revealed the OTP to him. But, he did not allot cement dealership in my brother’s name,” said the Bahinipati.

Later, a complaint in this regard was lodged with the Cyber Police in Koraput district.

“The police launched a probe in this regard and traced the cyber fraudsters to somewhere in Bihar. They arrested three persons in this connection and recovered Rs 1.5 lakh from them. People should remain careful of such fraudsters. They should not share their account numbers and any other details with unknown persons to avoid similar incidents,” said the Congress MLA.