Chandigarh man duped of ₹5.2L by swindler posing as BSNL employee

The victim, an army officer based in Chandigarh, had received an SMS from a number asking him to update the KYC status of his BSNL sim

An army veteran was duped of ₹5.23 lakh by an unknown accused posing as a representative of the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL).

Police booked the unidentified accused after a Chandigarh-based man was duped of ₹5.2L by swindler posing as BSNL employee. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Police said Brigadier (retd) Ranjit Singh Gill of Sector 35 received an SMS from a number asking him to update the KYC status of his BSNL sim. A customer care number for this was also provided for the same.

Upon calling the number, the victim spoke to the accused, Rahul Kumar of Noida, posing as a BSNL employee. He sought a ₹25-payment for the verification of his KYC and asked him to download Any Desk app so he could help him make the payment. The accused asked for the information of multiple debit cards and between May 23 and May 24 5.23 lakh were withdrawn.

A bank official called the victim to verify the transaction, following which, he approached the police.

The accused allegedly contacted the victim again on May 24 and asked him to follow a set of instructions to process a refund, but he refused to do the same.

A case under Sections 419 (cheating by personation) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian penal Code (IPC) has been registered at the Sector 36 police station. No arrests have been made yet.