Hyderabad: 81-year-old man cheated of Rs 1.36 lakh by impersonators

Hyderabad: An 81-year-old senior citizen was cheated by fraudsters who impersonated RBI officials and siphoned off Rs 1.36 lakh from his bank account. They said they would link his Aadhaar card to his bank, and took all crucial details.

According to the police, the victim V. Srinivas Rao, is a retired employee of Tata Steel. His sons are abroad and he stays with his wife.

A few days ago, he received a call from an unknown number. The caller impersonated an RBI official and informed him that as his Aadhaar card was not linked to the bank account and that his account would be frozen.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, Mr Srinivas Rao said, “They called and asked me to link the Aadhaar card to the bank account and they stated that if I failed to do so they will block my account.”

He was sleeping in the afternoon and was woken up by the caller got back in the afternoon. “When they suddenly said they are going to block my account. I couldn’t think much and there was no time. I just gave them  the details they required. It happened in a few minutes”.

Subsequently the fraudster asked him to give his account details and, after making a transaction,  the one-time password. Mr Srinivas Rao then got a message that the Rs 1.36 lakh which was in his account was transferred to another account through an online transaction. The victim approached the cyber crime police.

police booked a case under IPC Section 419 (punishment for cheating by impersonation) 420 (cheating) and the provisions of the In-formation Technology Act and investigation is underway.