E-Paper
Cybercriminal posing as DM dupes student of ₹90,000
A Lucknow student was scammed of ₹90,000 by a fraudster posing as a district magistrate, leading to a police complaint and ongoing investigations.
A 20-year-old university student in Lucknow fell prey to a cyber fraudster who impersonated the district magistrate of Siddharthnagar and duped her of ₹90,000 on the pretext of furniture delivery.
The victim, Neha Tripathi, a resident of Gulistan Colony and a student at Lucknow University, had no reason to suspect anything unusual when she received a call on the evening of May 28 from someone claiming to be the DM of Siddharthnagar.
The caller told her that a consignment of furniture was arriving and she must receive it and immediately transfer ₹90,000 via e-payment to a specified number. He also said that this request was made by her uncle.
Believing the call to be genuine, Neha transferred the amount to the mobile number without verifying the delivery. It was only a few minutes later, when her uncle contacted her, that she realised she was conned. He clarified that he made no such request and was equally shocked.
Alarmed, her uncle contacted the district magistrate of Siddharthnagar, whom the fraudster allegedly impersonated. The DM denied making any such call, confirming that the matter was indeed a case of cyber fraud through identity spoofing.
Neha acted swiftly. She dialled the national cybercrime helpline 1930, visited the Cyber Cell in Hazratganj, and managed to get her bank account frozen. She made the payment through her account. The cyber team was able to hold ₹41,000 of the defrauded amount before it could be withdrawn by the scammer.
Following the cyber cell’s instructions, Neha registered a formal complaint at Gautampalli police station, which was filed under Section 66D of the IT (Amendment) Act, 2008, and Section 318(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.
SHO, Gautampalli, Pankaj Kumar, said the accused remains unidentified and it is suspected that the case is linked to a broader pattern of cybercriminals impersonating senior officials and family members to extract money. Investigations are ongoing.
