In ten seconds, cyber criminal wipes off Rs 5 lakh from MBA student's account

In a matter of few seconds, a 27-year-old MBA student from Odisha lost nearly Rs 5 lakh of her savings to a cyber criminal, after she received an SMS about a pending electricity bill, stated a report in The New Indian Express.

The student was reportedly told that the non-payment of the bill within an hour would result in the power to her residence being cut. Unaware that the communication was part of an elaborate fraud, she spoke to the accused and followed his instructions, and ended up losing most of her savings within five to ten seconds.

Speaking to The New Indian Express, the victim, identified as Priya (name changed), said that the accused spoke to her for some time and got her to follow his instructions. She had a pending electricity bill of around Rs 1,585 and ended up losing a huge sum of money.

The incident occurred on Saturday, October 7, and a police complaint was filed on Monday, October 9. Priya was at home on 4th Cross, Amruthahalli, when she received a text message on her phone around 5.16 pm, stating that she had to contact a customer care number immediately, asking her to clear her pending bill. The accused had shared a mobile number as the customer care number.

“I called the number and the accused asked me to download some electricity statement app. I immediately downloaded it. He sent me a link and asked me to click on it and to fill in the details. The app was a screen mirroring app, and I unknowingly gave the accused access to control my phone. I started getting OTPs, which were getting redirected to the accused's mobile phone. By using three OTPs, he transferred money from my savings to his bank account. In no time, I lost Rs 4,99,986 lakh. Realising what was happening, I disconnected the call and transferred my remaining money to my other bank account,” she said.

She also raised a complaint with the cybercrime helpline. Amruthahalli police have traced the call to West Bengal, but are yet to arrest the accused, stated The New Indian Express report.