Retired brigadier pays conmen ₹35,000 over promise of ₹3.2 lakh ‘retirement bonus’

The retired Briagadier says the accused gained his confidence by sharing confidential details of his career in the army, which is available only with Army Headquarters.

Two people, posing as staffers of Principal Controller of Defence Accounts (PCDA) Office in Pune, allegedly conned a retired Brigadier on the pretext of offering him a ‘retirement bonus’.

The retired Briagadier received phone calls from people, who claimed to be working at Principal Controller of Defence Accounts Pune. (File Photo)

The victim, a resident of Gurugram Sector 39 , wished to remain anonymous. He said he received phone calls from people, who claimed to be working at PCDA Pune. The callers told the retired serviceman that he had been selected for a retirement bonus of ₹3.2 lakh since the organisation had earned some ‘profit’.

The officer, on the condition of anonymity, said, “One of them said he was a Colonel who had earlier worked at Army Insurance Group in Delhi.”

“They took me into confidence by sharing confidential details of my career in the Army, which is available only with Army Headquarters. How were they privy to all my postings and defence courses?,” the officer said.

The officer said that the alleged ‘fraudsters’ asked him to deposit a sum of ₹35,000 in a bank account for certain certificates, assuring him that the deposit was refundable.

“I wired the money to a bank account in Aligarh. When I checked with them later about the bonus, they said it was under process,” he said, adding that the accused had changed phone numbers too.

Perturbed by the fraud, the victim said, “I am not concerned about the money, but if the fraudsters have access to data from Army Headquarters, it should be probed. I have shared the call details with the police.”

The police, however, said it was not immediately clear if the fraudsters indeed had personal details of the retired Brigadier, and if they did their source was not known.

The victim later lodged a complaint with Cyber Cell and Police Commissioner’s office.

A case was registered under Sections 419 (cheating by personation) and Section 420 (cheating) of IPC at Sadar Police Station.

Cyber crimes are on the rise with as many as nine cases registered everyday in 2017.

The total number of cases registered were 3,297 that included 1916 were for online banking frauds, 264 complaints pertain to Facebook exchanges, 240 relate to internet fraud and 51 related to data theft. In the first five months of 2018, the number of cases registered daily is 11 and the total number of cases registered till May 25 was 1644.