Hanamkonda: A manager working with the State Bank of India‘s Parakal branch was cheated of Rs.2,24,967 by a conman who sent him text messages saying his SBI account would soon be deactivated.
According to the police, Sakal Deo Singh, a native of Bihar, was working with the SBI as the Accounts Manager at the Parkal main branch for some time now by residing in Hanamkonda.
On Thursday evening, he received a message from a mobile number (89878 61993) stating that his SBI account would be deactivated and asking him to click on a link and update his PAN card number immediately to stop deactivation.
When he saw the message on Friday morning, he clicked on the link which resulted in the opening of a page that appeared like the SBI internet banking site, where he was asked to enter a password.
Soon after entering the password, Singh received a call from another number (74318 29447) asking him to click on another link, where he entered the password and updated the PAN card number.
However, it was not updated as he was on the bus on the way to Parkal by that time. After reaching the branch, he called the number from which he got the call.
Following this, the trickster sent another message with a link from a new number (7908754873). Singh clicked on the link which resulted in the transfer of Rs.99,990 from his bank account to another account. Within minutes, he got another message saying Rs.99,000 was transferred from his account.
A third message said Rs.24,987 was transferred. He thus lost a total of Rs.2,24,967 to the fraudster.
Based on a complaint lodged by him with the Parkal police on Friday, SHO Pulyala Kishan registered a case under IPC 420 and 66 D & IT act and took up investigation.