Retired Delhi Police ACP duped, nearly Rs 1.5 lakh siphoned

NEW DELHI: Despite numerous awareness campaigns conducted by the Delhi Police, many people still fall victim to cyber fraudsters. In a recent incident, a retired Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) from the Delhi Police was deceived after receiving a call from an internet scammer. Fortunately, due to a preset credit card limit, he managed to evade significant losses.

According to police officials, Dayanand Kaushik (75), who resides with his family in Vasundhara Enclave, Delhi, and retired from the Delhi Police as an ACP, reported the incident.On December 6, 2023, he encountered signal issues with his satellite television. He subsequently attempted to contact the company’s customer care via the internet but received no response. Upon making a second call, a person identifying as Avinash asked if he was sitting in front of the TV. Avinash suggested calling back upon returning home in Noida.

On December 11, 2023, Kaushik called the same number again to inquire about the unresolved issue. Avinash instructed him to download an app since the company’s app was not installed on his phone. He was asked to make a payment of ten rupees as a signal correction charge. Kaushik made the payment using his HDFC credit card, but due to server issues, he was prompted to use another card. Consequently, he used his Bank of India debit card to complete the transaction. Shortly afterwards, SMS alerts for transactions began flooding in.

Realising the potential fraud, Kaushik promptly contacted the police control room and the cyber crime helpline. Both his cards were immediately blocked. During this time, he received numerous calls from different numbers, attempting to engage him in conversations and siphon money from his accounts. However, he refrained from responding to any of these calls. The following day, he received a call, and upon answering, the caller stated, “The money has been withdrawn.” While the debit card had a fixed limit of Rs 50,000, transactions totaling Rs 49,509 were made thrice, and Rs 4,025 were withdrawn twice using the credit card. The East District Cyber Crime Police registered a case on Monday, four months after the complaint was filed by the retired ACP. Now the Cyber Crime team is investigating the matter.