The fraudulent scheme revolved around a phone call from an individual named Jyoti, urging him to remit a locker fee of Rs 6,600
“Online scams continue to cause widespread disruption across the nation, with scammers using various tactics to defraud unsuspecting individuals and drain their bank accounts. These scams are not limited to deceptive job offers or manipulating YouTube video ratings; scammers are constantly devising new strategies to ensnare their targets. In a recent incident, online fraudsters successfully swindled a retired Indian Navy officer out of Rs 2.37 lakhs.
According to a report by TOI, the scam unfolded when Lieutenant Colonel Ashish Chitnis, a retired Navy officer from Mumbai, received a call on September 8 from an individual identifying herself as Jyoti. The caller claimed to be an employee of a nationalized bank situated in Ashok Nagar, Kandivali (East), where Chitnis maintained a savings account. Jyoti informed Chitnis that he owed a locker fee of Rs 6,600 to the bank and urged him to make the payment promptly.
A few weeks later, Chitnis was alarmed to discover that a significant sum had been deducted from his bank accounts when he reviewed his bank statement. To his astonishment, Rs 2.37 lakhs had been siphoned off from two of his savings accounts in a nationalized bank between September 8 and 15. In response to the situation, the police stated, ‘We have requested details from the bank regarding the 13 fraudulent fund transfers that were carried out from the retired Indian Navy officer’s bank accounts.’
The exact circumstances of Chitnis’s financial loss remain unclear, but it is possible that he was deceived into believing the authenticity of the scammer’s calls and inadvertently disclosed sensitive information, including his bank account details. This is plausible, especially considering the pressure exerted by the scammer regarding the pending locker fee. The report also mentions that Chitnis noticed that his bank accounts had a zero balance when he updated his passbook.
The fraudster initiated the theft by making two fraudulent transactions of Rs 25,000 each from Chitnis’s first account in Gujarat on September 8. On September 11, three additional transactions of Rs 25,000 each and one transaction of Rs 22,000 were carried out. On September 13, two more transactions of Rs 25,000 each were executed, followed by one transaction of Rs 25,000 on September 15. Between September 11 and 15, the fraudster made three more transactions, each amounting to Rs 15,000. Remarkably, Chitnis did not receive any transaction alerts on his registered mobile number with the bank.
While the case is currently under investigation, it highlights the increasing sophistication of scammers in their relentless pursuit of deceiving and victimizing individuals. They continually adapt and innovate their tactics, underscoring the importance of remaining vigilant and informed when interacting online. Phone calls purporting to be from banks, which demand money or create artificial urgency, are frequently employed by scammers and should be met with caution.
How to Stay Safe:
- Never divulge your personal information to unsolicited callers, including your Social Security number, bank account details, credit card information, and passwords.
- Exercise caution when receiving emails or text messages that prompt you to click on a link or open an attachment, as these could lead to phishing websites designed to steal your personal information.
- Be skeptical of investment opportunities that promise high returns with minimal risk, as these often turn out to be scams.”
