Pune: Cybercrooks posing as bank officials allegedly duped a 65-year-old ex-serviceman from Shirur of Rs28.72 lakh on the pretext of helping him open a senior citizen pension account.The crooks on Sept 11 shared an APK file named “India Pension Card Verification Retired Pe..” with the elderly man and siphoned off money from his bank account. The elderly man’s daughter submitted an online complaint, following which he lodged a complaint with Shirur police on Sunday.An officer from Shirur police said the complainant currently worked as a farmer. “On Sept 11, he received the link with the name ‘India Pension Card Verification Retired Pe..’ on his cellphone. After a while, he received a call from an unknown number. The caller claimed he was calling from his bank and would help him open a senior citizen pension account.”“The caller told him to fill in the details mentioned in the link. He told the complainant that he would receive an OTP but not to share it. While speaking to the caller, the complainant received four OTPs. Each time, the caller told him not to share the OTP. He assured the complainant that his pension account would start operating within four hours, before disconnecting the call,” the officer said.The complainant checked his bank account and found the balance was intact. After a few hours, he received at least 10 OTPs and Rs28.47 lakh was debited from his bank account. On Sept 12, another Rs25,000 was debited from his account.“Upon contacting the bank, he found Rs28.72 lakh had been debited. He then realised he had been duped. We have sought details of the transactions from his bank and are investigating further,” the officer added.
