Cyber crime continues to rise in scale and complexity in Odisha with complaints of cyber loot pouring in from different parts of the state. Of late, a Koraput-based government official has fallen prey to cybercrime and had to lose Rs 38,000 from his pocket.
According to sources, Rajesh Kumar Nayak, an employee of Koraput District Child Protection Unit got a message on his phone which appeared in the name of Tata Power. In the message, it was mentioned that your electricity connection will be disconnected if you do not pay electricity bill. When Nayak checked the authenticity of the number in True Caller, it showed the name as Tata Power.
When Nayak rang that number mentioned in the message, he was asked to recharge Re 1. When Nayak recharged Rs1, Rs 38,000 got disappeared from his account immediately.
On basis of a complaint filed by Nayak, Koraput Cyber Police are investigating the case.
Nayak said, “When I expressed my doubt during my conversation with the so-called Tata Power official, the latter asked me to visit the local electricity office saying ‘If you don’t believe me, come to the electricity office where I am sitting now and ask my name (Rakesh) to anyone to clear your doubt.’ It was then I entrusted him. Then he said as your consumer number is not active, you need to recharge Rs 1. Without an iota of doubt, I recharged Re1 from my ATM card. Soon after recharging, Rs 38,000 disappeared from my account.”