Ahmedabad: A retired senior citizen, resident of Vadaj, fell victim to a cyberfraud while attempting to make an online payment through the IRCTC mobile application on Jan 3.
Dipak Parikh, 66, lodged a complaint with cybercrime police on Saturday, detailing the incident and expressed his concerns about the growing menace of online scams targeting innocent individuals.
According to the complaint, Parikh was attempting to load funds into the IRCTC wallet using his AU Small Finance Bank savings account. Despite multiple attempts, the transaction failed. Seeking assistance, he used the “Ask Disha” help section on the IRCTC app and provided all necessary details to get the problem fixed.
Shortly thereafter, he received a call from an individual claiming to be a representative from IRCTC customer service. The caller assured Parikh that his issue would be resolved and guided him to share his banking details under the guise of troubleshooting. Unaware that he was being scammed, Parikh followed the instructions, leading to unauthorised access to his bank accounts.
Within minutes, a significant amount of money was siphoned off from both his savings and overdraft accounts. Realising he had been cheated, Parikh approached the cops.
Cybercrime police registered a complaint of cheating, breach of trust, and criminal conspiracy under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and under the Information Technology Act against the unknown accused.