Lokmat News Network
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar
The Pundaliknagar police took 11 months to act on a January complaint where a cybercriminal posing as a bank representative duped an elderly woman of Rs 24,22,907 under the guise of updating her PAN card. The delay raises serious questions about justice and accountability.
The victim, named Nilima Sudhir Shroff (Nath Prangan, Garkheda area), has a joint account with her husband in the ICICI Bank, Pundaliknagar branch. On January 16, around 10.30 am when she was at home, she received a call from an unknown number. The caller told her that he was from ICICI Bank and said he could help her update her PAN card.
Believing him, Shroff did as he told her to do and opened a link sent to her mobile. She then entered her debit card details into the link. The fraudster asked for the OTP sent to her mobile and, believing him, she shared the OTP twice.
The next day, she received several calls from the same number, during which the caller continued to request four-digit OTPs for the same purpose. Trusting him, Shroff shared various OTPs that appeared on her phone. Later, her mobile phone stopped working. Despite all this, as well as calling a neighbouring woman for assistance, the telephone would not start. Feeling like something was wrong, she called the bank and found the following unauthorized withdrawals from her account.
On January 16, transactions of Rs 4,99,917 and 4,99,990, and on January 17, withdrawals of an additional Rs 2 lakh, Rs 4 lakh, Rs 2.17 lakh, Rs 2.17 lakh and Rs 3.89 lakh. A total amount of Rs 24,22,907 was siphoned off from her account in two days.
Shroff immediately complained to the Cyber Police Station. However, the Pundaliknagar Police Station registered a case in this regard after 11 months (November 29, to be specific). PSI Bhalerao is currently investigating the matter.