Senior citizen loses Rs 2 lakh in bank scam despite visiting SBI branch in Chennai

CHENNAI: A sum of Rs 2 lakh was withdrawn from the account of a senior citizen while she was at the bank and pleading with officials to take action quickly as she had realised she was scammed. The victim (identity withheld) has registered a complaint with the Greater Chennai Police. In her complaint, the victim said around two weeks ago, she called the SBIs Besant Nagar branch after getting a number on the web, to facilitate a personal finance transaction. However, the call was routed to a 1800-type customer care number where an executive on call, claiming to be Anup Kumar, the bank manager, asked her to download an app and sent an apk file through WhatsApp, which the victim clicked and installed. A few minutes later, the victim got suspicious and told Kumar that she was heading to the bank to conduct the transaction face-to-face. At the bank, she was informed that there was nobody by that name and that she had probably been scammed. Realising the seriousness, she sought help from the banks officials to change the phone number linked to her account. The victim said that the bank officials did not respond quickly and made her fill a form. As the clock ticked, she suddenly got three OTPs via SMS on her mobile phone one after the other. Within minutes, Rs 1.99 lakh was withdrawn from her account. A bank employee at the counter realised the issue and quickly froze her account. Transactions reviewed by the victim show that the money was transferred out to a Bandhan bank account in Ghaziabad and to another individuals UPI ID.