Rajasthan farmer lost Rs 8.03 lakh in 7 minutes on fake app, here's how he recovered some of it

By Team Newsable | First Published Feb 19, 2023, 3:02 PM IST

The money that was robbed was a loan amount that his father had taken under Kisan Credit Card Scheme for farming purposes.

Pawan Kumar Soni, 55, a farmer hailing from Rajasthan's Sri Ganganagar City, became a cyber fraud victim when his 26-year-old son Harsh Vardhan opened a link inside a phishing message that flashed on his mobile phone. Within minutes, four different transactions worth more than Rs 8 lakh were done from his account.

Vardhan, a resident of Dwarka in Delhi, had his phone number registered with his father's account at the Sri Ganganagar City's State Bank of India branch. At around 3.45 PM on Saturday, January 7, a message was delivered on his mobile that said: 'Your account is blocked. Please update your KYC'.

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Despite having a YONO application, Vardhan clicked on the link, which downloaded a duplicate app on his phone. An unassuming Vardhan thought that he should update his KYC on the new app and ended up sharing his user ID and password. However, he then started receiving messages about money withdrawal from his father's account. We lost Rs 8,03,899 in seven minutes, Vardhan said.

It was much later that he realised that using the duplicate app, his phone had been hacked, and a cyber fraud sitting somewhere else had accessed his user ID and password. The money that was robbed was a loan amount that his father had taken under Kisan Credit Card Scheme for farming purposes.

Vardhan informed his father in Ganganagar City, who then rushed to the bank to notify the manager. He then 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.

At his father's request, the bank manager alerted the local cyber cell. He also sent an email to financial institutions to get those accounts blocked in which the money was transferred. The manager told him the money had been sent to three accounts - Rs 5 lakh and 1.24 lakh went into PayU, 1.54 lakh was transferred into CCAvenue, and the rest Rs 25,000 went into Axis Bank.

Both PayU and CCAvenue are digital payment companies. They act as a bridge between business ventures and customers. They collect payments from buyers when they make online purchases and deliver these to the merchants' bank accounts.

The bank manager informed him that PayU had reverted to his email and withheld the money. It also said that it would release the money into the merchant's account if it didn't receive any email from the cybercrime department within two days to reverse the amount.

CCAvenue said that it also responded and provided all information on January 7 to the cyber officials when they learnt about the said fraud.

On the other hand, Vardhan made an online complaint. Two days later, on Monday, he went to lodge an FIR, which was denied. The complaint was finally lodged three days later, on January 10, '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.'

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 Sri Ganganagar City. They wrote to PayU, and he got back Rs 6,24,000 into his account. But Soni was adamant about tracking the money trail in Axis Bank and CCAvenue. Some of Vardhan's relatives who are digital finance professionals, tracked down Rs 25,000, which had gone into an Axis bank account and had then been withdrawn from an ATM in Kolkata.

Another Rs 1,54,899 was transferred to CCAvenue. Out of that, Rs 1,20,000 was used by the fraudster to make purchases from a Jio store in Kolkata, Soni said, adding that the concerned police station in Kolkata said they could not take action unless they get it in writing from Delhi Police.

Soni alleged that despite him and his son telling Dwarka's cyber cell to write to CCAvenue, Axis Bank and the Kolkata Police, they kept stalling and eventually sent the letters on January 23.

Claiming that he knew the fraudster's name and address. Soni alleged that such fraudsters registered themselves as merchants with digital payment companies which do not 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 said that his force receives many complaints on the Integrated Complaint Management System (ICMS) portal regularly. The complaints are processed, and then details are sought from the concerned agencies/institutions.

In the present case, the officer said, 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 the bank. On receiving the details, emails 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.

With Agency Inputs

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