SIM KYC fraud: Odisha Doctor loses whopping Rs 77.86 lakh

Cuttack: A Doctor from Cuttack fell prey to an online fraud and lost over Rs 77.8 lakh within a period of seven days. As per a complaint filed by Doctor Sanatan Mohanty from the CDA area of Cuttack town at the Cyber Police Station, he received a call from an eight-digit number asking him to activate his BSNL SIM card through online on February 9.

Speaking in Hindi, the caller then asked Mohanty to provide his bank details including CVV number as part of the KYC process to activate his BSNL SIM. As Mohanty’s BSNL number was linked to his bank accounts and post office accounts and he has been using it for a long time, he agreed to provide the details as asked by the caller.

The person on the other side of the call requested Mohanty to download a ‘Quick Support’ app from the Google Play store and give the bank details. Accordingly, the Doctor entered the details in the app without raising any suspicion.

During the evening hours the same day the Doctor received a message mentioning that his ATM card has been blocked.

The next day he enquired the matter at SBI, Bidanasi branch where the Bank Manager told him two transactions have been done from his account twice along with POS purchases on February 9. The bank official assured him there will be no further fraudulent transactions from his account and helped him getting a new ATM card.

But still there were multiple fraudulent transactions from the Doctor’s bank accounts. Surprisingly, he did not receive messages on his mobile phone from the bank regarding debits from his account.

“All above, the scamster withdrew Rs 67 lakh from my bank fixed deposit without my knowledge. I even did not receive message about the bank transactions,” said Mohanty.

In the complaint, the Doctor further stated that between February 9 and 15, a total of Rs 77,86,727 fraudulent transactions were done from his accounts in SBI, Bidanasi and SBI, Tulasipur.

When he tried to call back the number from where he received the call on February 9, it was found that the phone was switched off.

The doctor today filed a complaint at the Cyber Police Station in Cuttack.

“I appeal the Commissionerate Police and the Odisha government to get back my life-long savings which I have lost due to the online fraud,” said the Doctor, who was working with NTPC and have been staying in the CDA area following his retirement.