Former Joint Secy of Min of Finance duped of Rs 5,070

A former joint secretary (banking) in the Union Ministry of Finance has been duped of Rs 5,070, by an unknown woman who called him up on April 14, claiming to be from the ICICI bank, police said on Friday.

Retired IAS officer Shekhar Agarwal, who was duped by the alleged cons, reportedly had an account with the bank. The woman who called him up said the bank owed him around Rs 7,000 pertaining to some old dues. The caller also told him that she needed to know his credit card number so that the amount could be credited to the concerned account.

“I have an old account with ICICI bank, but I hardly did transactions through that account. So I was not sure about any outstandings either on my part or on part of the bank. So I disclosed one of my credit card numbers and later received a message that around Rs 5,070 was in fact debited from the concerned account,” said Agarwal. He further added: “I do not know from where the cons got my number but they knew my name and also the fact that I had an old account with ICICI bank.”

Agarwal also told the police that when he tried calling back the number, it was switched off. The number could never be availed again despite repeated attempts. Agarwal approached the police immediately and a case under Section 420 was registered at the Tughlaq Road police station. 

According to the police official investigating the case, these kind of gangs usually withdraw smaller amounts in instalments to ensure that the target fails to take note. 

“May be this is the reason why the cons took away only Rs 5070, when they had the card number. Investigation of the case is underway,” the official added.