Greater Noida retired employee loses ₹16.87 lakh in fake life certificate scam

According to police, the victim received more OTPs during the same period and a large amount of money was siphoned off from his credit card.

Noida: A 61-year-old retired government employee lost ₹16.87 lakh after cybercriminals allegedly hacked into his mobile phone by installing malicious files via a fraudulent link, police said.

According to the complaint filed by the victim, he saw a Facebook advertisement about life certificate submission on October 16.

According to the complaint filed by the victim, a resident of Greater Noida’s Surajpur, he saw a Facebook advertisement about life certificate submission on October 16. The advertisement had the logo of a nationalised bank, he said.

“Out of curiosity, I clicked on the link. In the evening, at around 6.30 pm, I received a call from an unidentified mobile number asking me to submit details regarding my date of birth and account number. The caller then asked me to download a file and wait for 24 hours,” the victim stated in his FIR.

Police said that after downloading the file, the victim realised something was wrong when a message flashed on his mobile phone. He suspected that he had downloaded malicious files. He immediately deleted all the files and checked his bank accounts.

“The next day, when I again received a WhatsApp call from the same unidentified number, I immediately dialled the helpline number to block my pension account. Later, I received multiple OTPs for transactions, but I was assured that the necessary action had been taken,” he stated.

According to police, the victim received more OTPs during the same period and a large amount of money was siphoned off from his credit card. “The victim blocked his credit card, but more money was simultaneously debited from another joint account. A total of ₹16.87 lakh was siphoned off in multiple transactions from the victim’s bank accounts,” a police officer said.

Subsequently, the victim filed a complaint on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP), and a case of cheating under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Information Technology (IT) Act was registered at the Cybercrime Branch police station on Thursday.

Further investigation is under way, police said.