Teen clears Rs 2.3L from grandfather's pension account for PUBG purchases

new delhi: The Central government's ban on mobile game PUBG, while angering a large section of the youth here has definitely proved to be somewhat of a boon for a retired government employee, who much to his surprise, found out that his 16-year-old grandson had nearly emptied his pension account to pay for products within the gaming platform.

Like most online games, PUBG also provides for in-game purchases where players may purchase certain types of weapons or jackets or other equipment. According to the FIR registered in the case, the boy had managed to clear Rs 2.3 lakh from his grandfather's pension account for his in-game purchases. Police said they have apprehended the boy.

According to the police, one complaint (name withheld) retired from BSNL filed a complaint in Timarpur police station and cyber cell (North District) where he alleged that he received a message from his bank on August 8 that Rs 2,500 was debited from his bank account and his balance is Rs 275 only.

Driven by panic, he immediately visited his bank and found that Rs 2.3 lakh was transferred from his bank account which was also his pension account. The complainant also alleged that he had neither received any OTPs for the transactions nor any messages for the amount being debited

previously.

"It was found that transfers were OTP secured and OTP was sent to the registered mobile number. However, no OTP was found in the mobile phone of the complainant," police said. However, it was later found that the complainant's grandson would make the transfers and then delete the text messages from the bank acknowledging the

transaction.

During the investigation, they traced out the Paytm account ID which was used for the money transfer. It was found registered to Pankaj Kumar (23), who revealed that one of his friends had been using his Paytm account and had made several payments to Google Play for PUBG. During the inquiry, the friend of Pankaj, who is a child in conflict with the law (CCL), was found to be the complainant's grandson.

"The minor disclosed that he was playing PUBG for many months but did not enjoy it as UC (Currency to buy skin-on PUBG) needed to be paid. One day, he saw his grandfather's debit card, linked to his pension account and used Pankaj's Paytm account as his own was not KYC-verified,"

police said.

The official further said that the boy started transferring money to the Paytm account from his grandfather's pension account and bought UC from Google Play Store and MidhasBuy, a website for buying cheap UC for

PUBG.

He also stated that he deleted the OTP and deduction messages from the mobile phone of his grandfather to create suspicion of the bank account being hacked.

The boy also told police, "Due to buying of UC worth Rs 2 lakh, his profile was also got enhanced and was at Ranking Ace Level, due to which his profile was hacked which is also very common

in PUBG."