Disappointed with police inaction, farmer takes on cybercriminal, recovers lakhs lost in fraud
New Delhi(PTI): 55-year-old Pawan Kumar Soni, a farmer based in Sri Ganganagar City in Rajasthan, became a victim of a cyber fraud when his 26-year-old son Harsh Vardhan opened a link from a phishing message that flashed on his mobile phone. Within minutes, more than Rs 8 lakh was withdrawn from his account in four different transactions.
Vardhan, who lives in Dwarka in Delhi, had his phone number registered with his father's account at the State Bank of India branch of Sri Ganganagar City. The message, which was delivered on his mobile at around 3.45 PM on Saturday, January 7, said, "Your account is blocked, please update your KYC."
Harsh already had a YONO application but the moment he clicked on the link, another duplicate app downloaded on his phone.
"I thought that I should update my KYC on this new app so I entered my user ID and password. Suddenly, I started receiving messages for the withdrawal of money from my father's account and in seven minutes we lost Rs 8,03,899," Vardhan said.
Later on, he realised that with the help of the duplicate app, his phone was hacked and the user ID and password that he had entered, were accessed by a cyber fraud sitting somewhere else.
The money swindled was a loan that his father had taken under Kisan Credit Card Scheme for farming purposes.
Vardhan called his father in Ganganagar City, who rushed to the bank to inform the manager. Vardhan went to the District Cyber Cell in Dwarka where he was asked to lodge an online complaint and visit the office on any working day.
The bank manager, at the request of his father, acted swiftly and called the local cyber cell. The manager also sent an email to financial institutions to get those accounts blocked in which the money was transferred.
Soni said, "The manager informed me that money went from my account to three accounts - Rs 5 lakh and 1.24 lakh went into PayU, 1,54,899 was transferred into CCAvenue, and the rest Rs 25,000 went into Axis Bank."
Both PayU and CCAvenue are digital payment companies that act as a bridge between customers and business ventures. They collect payments from buyers when they make online purchases and deliver these to the merchants' bank accounts.
"The bank manager informed me that PayU reverted to his email and said that it withheld the money. It also said that if it wouldn't receive any email from the cybercrime dept within two days for the reversal of the amount, it would release the money into the merchant's account," Soni alleged.
CCAvenue said that it also responded to the cyber officials and provided all information on January 7, when the company came to know about the said fraud. On the other hand, his son Vardhan made an online complaint and, two days later, on Monday, went to lodge an FIR which was denied.
"Then I met the additional DCP who directed the SHO to lodge an FIR. Finally, it was lodged on January 10, three days after the fraud happened," he said.
Vardhan then requested the Dwarka Cyber Cell to email PayU asking it to remit the money back into his father's account. "The police personnel made only hollow promises and did nothing," Vardhan alleged.
His father then approached the cyber cell of Ganganagar City. They wrote to PayU and he got back 6,24,000 money into his account. But Soni was adamant to track the money trail in Axis Bank and CCAvenue.
"On my request, my relatives' friends who are digital finance professionals tracked it and found that 25,000 that went into Axis bank was withdrawn from an ATM in Kolkata," Soni said.
"Another Rs 1,54,899, which was transferred to CCAvenue, Rs 1,20,000 of that money was used by the fraudster to buy some stuff from a Jio store in Kolkata," Soni said, adding, he spoke to the concerned police station in Kolkata but they said that unless they would get it in writing from Delhi Police, they would not do anything.
He alleged that during all this time, he and his son kept telling Dwarka's cyber cell to write to Axis Bank, CCAvenue and Kolkata Police but they kept stalling him and did it only on January 23 which was too late.
"I have found out his name and address as well," Soni said, alleging that such fraudsters register themselves as merchants with digital payment companies which don't do proper due diligence while checking their KYC.
"When I can find the money trail, why can't the police? they can do it more quickly and easily," Soni said.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Dwarka, Harsha Vardhan told PTI that Delhi Police receive a large number of complaints on ICMS (Integrated Complaint Management System) portal regularly.
"We process them and seek details from the concerned agencies/institutions. In the present case, the complaint was received on January 9 in the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP) and FIR was registered on January 10. Account details were sought from bank. On receiving the details, mails were sent. There is always scope to improve and do things faster but we also face delays from banks in getting details," Harsha Vardhan said.
Fintech experts say that since the end customer is the worst affected victim of phishing scams, it's natural to expect them to be more vigilant, however, the payment networks and banks also have a big responsibility by not allowing such accounts to set up and operate.
"Adopting stringent KYC procedures will enable financial institutions to quickly map fraudulent money and to hold the money at their end," Satyam Kumar, a former banker who heads a digital NBFC, LoanTap, said.
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B'luru: "Least priority, shifted late," says brother of patient who died in Ramaiah hospital fire
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Bengaluru: Hours after a fire broke out at the Critical Care Unit (CCU) of the MS Ramaiah Memorial Hospital on New BEL Road on Thursday, a 34-year-old patient, Sujay Sujathan Panicker, tragically passed away. His family has accused the hospital authorities of negligence, which they claim led to his death.
The fire at Ramaiah Memorial Hospital is believed to have been caused by a short circuit. Initial reports suggested that there were no casualties in the incident.
Sujay, originally from Kollam in Kerala, had been residing in Bengaluru with his family since 2004. He was undergoing treatment for pneumonia, Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), and H1N1 since September 1 at the hospital.
Sujay's wife and father released a video accusing the hospital of negligence. In the video, his wife, Rohini Jayan, alleged that the hospital authorities took no action against those responsible for the fire.
Sujay’s brother, Sujin Sujathan Panicker, speaking to Vartha Bharathi, detailed the family’s ordeal. He said that despite his sister-in-law requesting assistance during the chaos, the hospital staff pushed her away, assuring her that all patients had been safely evacuated to the Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU). However, Sujin claims that his sister-in-law did not see Sujay being shifted.
He further stated, “Sometime later, when a doctor arrived, she (Rohini) inquired about Sujay. It was only after the doctor questioned the staff that they rushed to evacuate him.”
Sujin added that by the time his brother was evacuated, 50 minutes had already passed since the fire broke out. "He was still inside, while all the other patients were taken out first. He was admitted to the hospital with a respiratory illness, yet he was given the least priority during the chaos. He was the last one to be evacuated."
He also claimed that Rohini had already noticed that Sujay’s condition had deteriorated and believed he had passed away, though the hospital authorities did not officially declare his death.
Sujin further stated that the hospital authorities called him and his father to the board room at the 8th floor of the hospital, where senior executives and doctors who had treated Sujay were present “During the interaction they (hospital authorities) claimed that Sujay was still alive and that his condition had worsened amid the smoke and that his chances of survival were less, which was not true.”
"Despite staff being present to evacuate my brother, they remained negligent. The fire broke out at 1:00 p.m., so why did it take 50 minutes to get him out? He was in a corner bed in the CCU, and it seemed they either overlooked the room or ignored it. Even after repeated requests, it took them 50 minutes to evacuate him," Sujin added.
Sujin also expressed concerns that the hospital authorities might attempt to influence the investigation. "They can influence anyone—any hospital, any report."
At the time of the interview, Sujin stated that neither anyone from the government nor from the health department had contacted the family.
A complaint has been filed in connection with the incident at the Sadashivanagar police station. "The statements of the family members have been recorded, and an investigation into the matter is underway. An FIR has been lodged under Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS) Section 106 (causing death due to negligence)," said Sadashivanagar police station Sub-Inspector.
Meanwhile, officials from Ramaiah Memorial Hospital were unavailable for comment.
