24-year-old woman loses Rs 1.60 lakh to cyber fraud in Rourkela | Bhubaneswar News

Rourkela: Chhend police have started investigation on the complaint of a 24-year-old woman who lost Rs 1.60 lakh to a cyber criminal after being lured with the promise of a Rs 5,000 award.The woman received a call on Sunday at around 1 pm from an unknown number. The caller identified himself as an employee of a payments app and informed her that her mobile number had won a Rs 5,000 award. Excited, she inquired about the procedure to claim the prize. The caller instructed her to click on a provided link, after which she would receive an OTP to share with him, following which, she would receive the amount.Subsequently, she received the link on her mobile and, as per instructions, clicked it. She shared the OTP 31 times with the caller. On providing the 32nd OTP, an amount of Rs 1,60,040 was debited from her account. The fraudster immediately disconnected the call.Realising she had been duped, she confirmed the unauthorised withdrawal by checking her bank account. When she attempted to contact the caller, she found his mobile was switched off.On Monday, the woman filed an FIR at Chhend police station. “Based on the FIR, we have registered a case under the IT Act and began investigation,” said B K Singh, inspector in-charge, Chhend police station.