WhatsApp scam alert! Retired teacher duped of Rs 21 lakh by cyber thugs

With the increasing trend of digitalisation, WhatsApp fraud and scam are also on a rise. Scammers often ask people to transfer money via QR code and other fraudulent ways. Another kind of scam that is gaining popularity these days uses WhatsApp links. Recently, a retired teacher lost Rs 21 lakh after she tapped on a link that he received on WhatsApp.

As per the police, soon after clicking the WhatsApp link, the woman’s bank account was hacked and the scammer withdrew all the money from his bank account.

The incident happened in Annamayya district of Andhra Pradesh with a resident of Redepanaidu Colony of Madanapalle town. The woman, named Varalakshmi, shared all information related to cyber fraud with the police. She mentioned that she was constantly getting messages saying that ‘money has been deducted’. Hence, she decided to connect with the bank officials who later told her that her account has been hacked and all the money is gone.

According to the police, sharing WhatsApp links to hack the user’s bank account has become a common scam nowadays.

Two Town Circle inspector said that cyber criminals are sending links to many WhatsApp numbers to withdraw money.

Giving details about another such incident, a police official said, “Cyber criminals recently stole ?12 lakh from the account of Gyanprakash, a software employee from Madanapalle. Two Town Police had registered a case on the incident on Friday. The very next day, a complaint was received that ?21 lakh had been stolen. Investigation is underway.”

Notably, the Crime Branch of Haryana Police restricted transactions worth over Rs 30 lakh initiated via money allegedly stolen from a gaming firm in Panchkula.

The COO of the firm lodged a complaint on cybercrime helpline after an app user cheated him for Rs 35 lakh.

Additional Director General of Police, State Crime Branch, OP Singh also spilled details about the matter. He said, “While preparing the company's account report on August 14, it was found that on August 11, an unauthorized deposit of ? 35 lakh was made in the wallet of a user, which the user had transferred from my wallet to my personal account on August 12 and 13.”

Soon after detecting the transaction, the coordinator spoke to the user, who refused to pay the money withdrawn.

“After the fraud was detected, a complaint was made to the cyber helpline at 1930. The fraudulent amount was obtained by freezing the transaction as a result of immediate information provided by the victim in 'Golden Hours' on 1930. A complaint has been lodged in this regard at Cyber Police Station, Panchkula and further investigation is on. “