Here’s How This Bengaluru Businessman Lost Rs. 45.7 Lakh In Scam

With the increase in the use of the internet, digital payment apps and wallets, online shopping, and other advancements, there is an increase in the number of scams that are happening around us. And, many people continue to lose money to miscreants in such scams.

Recently, a report by Times of India states that a businessman in Bengaluru lost a whopping Rs. 45.7 lakh in such an incident. The money has been siphoned off from an engineering company's bank account. The miscreants have deactivated the proprietor's mobile number and hacked all internet banking credentials from the victim's phone number.

After a considerable delay of 24 hours of losing the money, the company's proprietor TV Jagadeesh and his wife Mangala were made to shuttle between two police stations before registering the complaint regarding cyber fraud. It has been filed at the Vijayanagar police station in the city.

The Actual Incident

As per the report, on Saturday evening, Jagadeesh's SIM card wasn't working. Following the same, on Monday morning, a huge sum of Rs. 45.7 lakh had been transferred out of their current and overdraft accounts from five branches of Canara Bank in just 30 minutes.

Police officials claim that the fraudsters should have deactivated the SIM card and hacked the email account to create a replacement request. After obtaining the replacement SIM and hacking the firm's internet banking details, they have transferred the amount.

In the meantime, Jagadeesh called the customer care of the network on Sunday morning and raised the issue of SIM not working. And, the executive asked him to get a new SIM card and wanted an official letter as it was a corporate SIM.

When his wife tried logging into the firm's bank account on Tuesday, she found the login credentials to be changed. She reportedly assumed that Jagadeesh would have changed it but later got to know that he did not do it. When they contacted the bank, they got the shocking information that a hefty sum of Rs. 45.7 lakh has been transferred from their accounts on Monday.

Airtel's Response

While Jagadeesh blames Airtel for issuing a corporate SIM without his consent, an Airtel spokesperson has revealed that they have issued the SIM only after getting an email from his account on Saturday. Having said that, we are yet to see how the scam case will unfold and if the victim will get back the amount he lost.