Former DG Shankar Bidari falls prey to phishing scam, loses Rs 89,000

Former DG and IGP, Shankar M Bidari has fallen prey to cyber fraudsters and lost Rs 89,000. He has knocked on the door of South-East CEN Crime police seeking action against fraudsters.

The police have registered a case under Information Technology Act, section 66 C - Punishment for identity theft, 66 D - Punishment for cheating by personation by using computer resources and IPC section 420 - Cheating and are making efforts to nab the miscreants.

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According to a complaint filed by Shankar M Bidari, on October 11, he received a message on his mobile phone number. The message was sent impersonating the State Bank of India (SBI). The message read as he needs to update the PAN number, if he fails to update the PAN number the account will be blocked immediately.

Before Bidari responded to the message he received a call from an unknown number around 12 pm. The caller introduced himself as an employee of SBI's customer care and asked Bidari to update his PAN number. Later the caller asked him to reveal the One Time Password (OTP) sent on his mobile number.

Bidari believed the message and call were genuinely made from the bank and told the OTP to the caller. Rs 89,000 was immediately debited from his account. Bidari received the message of the same. It was only then he realized that the miscreants had cheated him.

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An investigating officer said that they have alerted the bank to reject the transaction and are investigating further. A senior retired officer falling prey to fraudsters with a commonly known fraud has surprised the investigating officers.

In February this year, the cyber fraudsters had hacked Bidari's email ID and had cheated one of his friends for the tune of Rs 25,000 by sending an email asking for money citing some emergency.

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