Surat: A 51-year-old man from Saroli was allegedly cheated of Rs 84.98 lakh by a cyberfraudster posing as an executive of Bank of Baroda’s (BoB) credit card department. The accused lured the victim with an offer of a new credit card and siphoned off money through multiple unauthorised transactions.According to the FIR registered at Saroli police station, the victim, Mahavirprasad Sharma, works as a maintenance manager at Maheshwari Bhawan in the City Light area. He was targeted between Aug 7 and 10 this year.The accused contacted Sharma on the phone, identifying himself as an executive from Bank of Baroda’s credit card department. He offered him a Bank of Baroda Uni GoldX credit card and attempted to persuade him to share his personal and banking details.
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Initially, Sharma was convinced that the caller was a genuine bank representative. During the conversation, the accused disclosed details such as Sharma’s pan card information and residential address, asking him to verify whether they were correct. He confirmed the details but clearly stated that he was not interested in applying for a credit card.However, sometime later, Sharma began receiving debit alerts on his mobile phone, indicating unauthorised transactions involving his accounts and cards linked to Equitas, State Bank of India, Kotak Mahindra, RBL and Bank of Baroda.The accused gained access to information relating to five of the victim’s credit cards, issued by different financial institutions and carried out multiple unauthorised transactions. A total of Rs 84.98 lakh was siphoned off.After noticing the suspicious transactions, Sharma realised that he had fallen victim to cyberfraud. He then contacted the national cybercrime helpline at 1930 and lodged a complaint.Based on his complaint, Saroli police registered an FIR on Monday against an unidentified accused, who posed as Pankaj Sharma. A case has been registered under Section 318(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Section 66D of the Information Technology (IT) Act, police said.
