Bengaluru woman loses Rs 1.2 cr in phone call scam: How to identify and stay safe

It is so disheartening to see that scams have become so common and are impacting just everyone, mostly those who are not accustomed to technology as much. Scammers take advantage of the fact that some people don’t know much about how to use technology and then misuse their trust. Another such incident has surfaced where an elderly woman in Bengaluru lost over Rs 1.2 crore in an online scam. What happened? Read along to know.

How did scammers scam this woman?

A 77-year-old woman, who is a resident of Bengaluru, is the latest victim of a cyber fraud. This made her lose close to Rs 1.2 crore. As per a report by The Hindu, the victim Lakshmi Shivakumari, got a phone call from the scammer. He claimed to be an official at the Telecom Department.

The scammer then accused her of being a part of illegal activities. When she denied this, the caller said that this was being done on a SIM card issued in her name in Mumbai. He further claimed that a complaint had been registered against her in the Mumbai crime branch. This panicked the old lady.

After a while, she received another call from men who identified themselves as Sandeep Rao and Akash Kulhari. They claimed to be officers at the Mumbai Crime Branch. These guys told Shivakumari that she was involved in a money laundering case amounting to Rs 60 crore.

When she denied any such claims, the scammers asked for her details. This included her personal information, bank accounts, and investments. They said that if she did not cooperate then they would arrest her for non-cooperation. They even showed her fake documents including a FIR and Supreme Court arrest warrant.

Naturally, the lady got scared and she gave in and transferred Rs 1,28,70,000. She was assured that the money would be returned when the investigation was over. But that never happened. And that’s when she realised that she was scammed.

Also read: Was CrowdStrike outage a cyberattack? Here is what company CEO said 

How to stay safe from such scams?

Since all of these incidents have started to become so common, we need to follow some necessary safety protocols. As they say, prevention is better than cure.

1. Do not share any personal information, bank details, etc on random calls. Always verify the authenticity of such calls.
2. Never, ever share your OTPs with someone on call. If someone is pretending to be in authority and is asking for your OTP, then that is the biggest red flag.
3. Use anti-virus and anti-malware software on your device.
4. Use strong passwords, no birthdays are the best passwords.
5. Regularly check your account activity

So, that’s how you can prevent scammers from robbing you. Stay safe and keep reading us for more content like this.