Two Greater Noida residents lose ₹50 lakh in separate cyber frauds

In the first incident, a 60-year-old man lost ₹27 lakh after he clicked on a malicious URL (link) which he received through an SMS on December 21

Greater Noida: Two elderly residents of Greater Noida were allegedly duped of over ₹50 lakh in two different incidents of cyber attacks after fraudsters hacked into their mobile phones through malicious links, police said on Wednesday. No arrest has been made so far.

In the other incident, a 59-year-old man was allegedly duped of ₹23.5 lakh after a cybercriminal, posing as a customer executive from the electricity department, called him up on November 19 and asked him to make payment for “meter verification” via a link. (Representational image)

In the first incident, a 60-year-old man lost ₹27 lakh after he clicked on a malicious URL (link) which he received through an SMS on December 21, police said.

The elderly man is a resident of Sector 36 in Greater Noida.

In his complaint to the police, the 60-year-old alleged: “On December 21, I received an SMS which contained a link to a webpage. Unfortunately, I clicked on it, and some unknown person gained unauthorised remote access to my mobile phone.”

Police said the fraudsters soon accessed the banking application on his phone and made several transactions. “The suspects siphoned off ₹27 lakh from his account through Immediate Payment Service (IMPS),” said Vijay Singh Rana, station house officer, Cybercrime Branch.

Subsequently, the victim informed the bank and his account was frozen. He then filed a complaint on the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP). “A case of cheating under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Information Technology (IT) Act was registered and investigation is underway,” added SHO Rana.

In the other incident, a 59-year-old man was allegedly duped of ₹23.5 lakh after a cybercriminal, posing as a customer executive from the electricity department, called him up on November 19 and asked him to make payment for “meter verification” via a link, police said.

The victim, a resident of Beta 2 in Greater Noida, told the police: “I received a call from an unidentified number, and the caller asked me to pay ₹13 for electric meter verification.

The 59-year-old alleged in his complaint: “I received a link to make the payment. I followed the specified steps and typed in my card details. However, when the payment failed, I used my wife’s card but the payment failed again. Later, in the evening, I found that ₹23.5 lakh — ₹19.5 from my account and ₹4 lakh from my wife’s bank account — had been siphoned off in multiple transactions.”

Following a complaint on the NCRP, a case under Section 318 (cheating) of the BNS and the IT Act was registered at the Cybercrime Branch police station and an investigation was taken up, police said.