Ghaziabad doctor loses cellphone in Noida, then loses ₹11 lakh to online fraud

On September 23, Dr Archana Singh visited her bank and found that someone had fraudulently shopped online for ₹10.96 lakh from her bank account via three transactions

A doctor working at the Ghaziabad district hospital allegedly lost her mobile phone last week and was defrauded of almost ₹11 lakh via online transactions.

Vinod Kumar, station house officer, Sector 49 police station, said a case has been registered against unknown persons under Section 420 (cheating) and Section 66-D of IT Act. (Representative image)

According to the police, Archana Singh, a resident of Noida’s Sector 76, said that on September 22 she attended a meeting in Noida’s Sector 39. “Later, I went to Sector 116 to see the construction site where we are building a new house. I returned home in the evening and found my mobile phone missing. The mobile phone had two SIM cards and one of them was linked to my bank account,” she said.

She visited the nearest police check post and the officers on duty asked her to file a complaint with the Sector 49 police. She said she filed a complaint at the police station the same evening.

Singh said that she was confused after the loss of the mobile phone and could not immediately get the SIM cards blocked. “On September 23, I visited my bank and found that someone had fraudulently shopped online for ₹10.96 lakh from my bank account via three transactions,” she said.

Singh then filed a complaint with the cyber cell.

Baljeet Singh, inspector, cyber cell, Noida, said that the police swiftly investigated the matter and talked to the management of the e-commerce company where the perpetrator had shopped. “We managed to reverse the transaction worth ₹7.5 lakh and returned the money to Singh’s account. We are working to recover the remaining amount and also arrest the suspects involved in the fraud,” he said.

The cyber cell directed the Sector 49 police to register a case in this regard. Vinod Kumar, station house officer, Sector 49 police station, said a case has been registered against unknown persons under Section 420 (cheating) and Section 66-D of IT Act.

The inspector of the cyber cell said that from January to October 2021, Noida Police’s cyber cell investigated several cases and recovered ₹1.43 crore, and returned the money to the victims’ bank accounts.