Online fraud: Thiruvananthapuram Commissioner's office account loses Rs 25,000; Here's how

An unauthorized transfer of Rs 25,000 occurred from the Thiruvananthapuram Commissioner's Office account. The fraudsters managed to pilfer the money by sending a fake message to the official account number.

Thiruvananthapuram: An online fraud group targeted and swindled money from the police who engaged in promoting awareness about cyber fraud prevention. An amount of Rs 25,000 was illicitly transferred from the Thiruvananthapuram Commissioner's Office account. The fraudsters managed to pilfer the money by sending a fake message to the official account number. In response, the Cyber Police have initiated an investigation and registered a case in this regard.

The City Police Commissioner's Office encountered a sophisticated fraud where messages related to money transactions were redirected to the mobile number of the Accounts Officer. Despite the office's consistent efforts to educate people about avoiding cyber fraud, the fraud team managed to deceive the Accounts Officer. The officer received a message last Monday, purportedly from the bank, claiming that the account would be canceled unless the KYC (Know Your Customer) was renewed immediately. Falling victim to the scam, the account officer clicked on the link in the message, and the fraud team, cunningly posing as a bank, provided an OTP upon request. Within minutes, Rs 25,000 from the SBI's Jagati branch ended up in the hands of the fraud team. 

The police immediately informed the control room of 1930 after learning about the loss of money. The Accounts Officer complained to the Cyber ​​Police. The stolen money is transferred from the fraudster's account to another account and withdrawn. However, the Thiruvananthapuram DCP said that the money stolen from the police account was stopped before it was withdrawn. The police also said that they had received a tip-off about the accused. The officials said that the high-tech thief who cheated the police would be caught soon.