Ahmedabad : A 79-year-old retired railway employee from Chandkheda lost Rs 5 lakh to cyberfraud after allegedly downloading a malicious application circulated in the name of a Bank of Baroda senior citizen pensioner’s card. Cybercrime police have registered a cheating case and launched an investigation.
The fraudulent transactions included two debits of Rs 2 lakh each, one debit of Rs 50,000 and two debits of Rs 25,000 each, resulting in a total loss of Rs 5 lakh. The victim immediately contacted the cybercrime helpline and lodged an online complaint. Police subsequently registered a case and began a probe.
The victim came across an advertisement for the card on Facebook on Oct 18, according to the complaint. When the victim expressed disinterest in the card, the caller allegedly threatened that cancellation would attract a monthly penalty of Rs 9,600. After clicking it, he received a WhatsApp message from an unknown number carrying the bank’s logo and a file labelled as a pension card verification APK. He later received a video call from the same number. The caller claimed that his pension card was ready and sought his bank account number to send it by post. The retiree then asked that the card be sent to his bank branch instead.