Karnataka Doctor loses Rs 22 lakh to cyber fraudsters
Cyber Crime
Mangaluru: In a shocking case, a Karnataka- based doctor reportedly lost Rs 22 lakh to a sophisticated cyber fraud that involved promises of a huge monetary reward. The fraud began when a person claiming to be from abroad contacted the doctor, offering 25 lakh US dollars as appreciation for his work.
According to the police, soon after, another individual, claiming to be a Customs Officer, called the doctor and said that a parcel addressed to him had arrived and that customs duty had to be paid to release it. Over the course of three days, the doctor visited a local Canara Bank branch to transfer amounts to different accounts as instructed by the fraudsters.
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Suspicious of the transactions, the Canara Bank official informed the Cyber Economic and Narcotic Crime (CEN) police and asked the police to verify the transactions. On Saturday, the CEN police confirmed that the doctor was a victim of cyber fraud and had already lost Rs 22 lakh.
After being informed of the scam, the doctor stopped further transfers and filed a formal complaint with the authorities.
Such scams, officials noted, increasingly rely on social engineering rather than technical hacking, manipulating victims into bypassing safeguards themselves. “This was not a case of a system breach but of deception,” a police officer involved in the inquiry said. “The fraudsters convinced the victim to act quickly, creating a sense of urgency,” reports the 420.
Speaking to the Hindu, Police Commissioner Sudheer Kumar Reddy said the police recently held a meeting of bankers. They were asked to keep monitoring suspicious transactions of customers and identify potential cyber fraud to protect the customers. The outreach act of the police has helped to save the doctor from losing money further, Mr. Reddy said.
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