Google search for SBI customer care number leads elderly man to fraudster, loses over Rs 4 lakh.
After the septuagenarian called on the number, the fraudster, who introduced himself as Manish Gupta from SBI, guided him to download and install the Anydesk application to get remote access to his phone.
A Google search for SBI’s customer care number recently led a 73-year-old resident of Navi Mumbai to step on a trap laid by a cyber conman and lose Rs 4.02 lakh. The complainant, a pensioner, wanted to get his debit card activated.
The elderly man, who lodged a complaint at Kharghar police station on January 10, told the police he used to work as an accountant at a private company in the United States and had returned to India in 1998.
On December 25, the man Googled SBI’s customer care number and was redirected to a number tagged as ‘SBI Debit card help’. After the septuagenarian called the number, the fraudster, who introduced himself as Manish Gupta from SBI, guided him to download and install the AnyDesk application to get remote access to his phone.
Once enabled, the conman found details of the elderly man’s bank account, and used them to transfer a total of Rs 4.02 lakh through multiple transactions. The fraudster then asked the man to get the process completed from the bank on December 27, a Monday, as the server is slow.
When the complainant went to the bank, he was shocked to find out that the huge amount was withdrawn from his account. He subsequently approached the police.