Formal Naval Vice Admiral Madanjit Singh, 75, became the latest victim of cyber crime when crooks hacked the WhatsApp account of his niece and swindled ₹97,000 in the name of medical emergency. Based on his complaint, the Colaba police have registered an offence of online cheating against an unknown accused.
According to the police, on June 18, Singh received a WhatsApp message from his niece Raina Saluja who stays in New York, in the message she had stated that she was in a meeting and demanded urgent help. When Singh asked her about what sort of help she was asking, she replied she urgently want ₹97,000 for a medical emergency and said that as soon as her meeting gets over she will repay it.
Since the message was sent from her own number Singh did now suspected anything wrong and asked for bank details for online transfer and immediately transferred ₹50,000, next day he transferred remaining ₹47,000.
For the next couple of days he did not received any response from her, later when Singh enquired and sent her messages then too he did not received any reply. Suspecting something fishy, Singh contacted his sister who told him that Raina's WhatsApp had been hacked and told him that he had been duped.
The vice admiral then contacted New Delhi branch of the bank in which he had transferred money, the bank officer told him that all the money had been withdrawn from the account. Singh then approached the Colaba police station on Monday and lodged his complaint.
We have registered an offence against an unknown accused under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections for cheating by personation (419) and cheating (420) along with section 66C (identity theft) and 66D (cheating by personation using computer resources) of the Information Technology act and the investigation is underway, said a police officer from Colaba police station.
