Fake loan agents harass banker’s family in Gurugram for days

Police said the accused made over 200 calls, sent abusive messages and shared family photographs to intimidate victims.

An FIR was against unidentified persons posing as loan recovery agents for allegedly harassing and threatening a senior bank executive and his family in Gurugram for about four days, officials said on Sunday.

Cyber police are probing how the callers accessed personal details, family contacts and photographs of the complainant. (File photo)

According to the complaint filed on Friday by the banker, identified as Saurabh Puri, a senior vice-president with a private bank, he began receiving repeated calls from unknown numbers regarding an alleged loan taken by a person purportedly associated with his office.

Puri told police that he informed the callers he had no knowledge of the individual or any such loan account and requested they stop contacting him. However, the calls allegedly continued and soon extended to his family members, including his wife, mother, sister-in-law and brother-in-law.

In the complaint, Puri alleged the callers used abusive and threatening language and tried to intimidate the family. “The callers repeatedly abused the women members of my family and tried to create fear and panic within our household,” he stated.

Puri alleged the family collectively received more than 200 WhatsApp and cellular calls between May 19 and 22.

According to Puri, the unidentified persons flooded their phones with OTPs and spam messages from multiple online food, education and delivery platforms. He also alleged that the callers used third-party delivery service numbers to make the family answer calls after their original numbers had been blocked.

The complaint added that photographs of his family members and children were sent to his wife via WhatsApp and other platforms, raising concerns over privacy and misuse of personal data.

Based on his complaint, Gurugram cyber police registered an FIR under sections 351(2) (criminal intimidation) and 79 (insulting modesty of woman) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita against unidentified persons at the Cyber Crime East police station in DLF Phase-5.

Police said the numbers used in the crime have been sent to multiple telecom operators and investigators are also trying to ascertain how the callers obtained the family’s contact details and personal photographs.