Civic body clerk loses 20 lakh to get 8 credit cards upgraded

Pune: A 45-year-old clerk with the civic body lost Rs20.19 lakh to online crooks between April 20 and July 10 last year, after falling for an offer to upgrade the eight credit cards he possessed. After the verification of his complaint application, the matter was referred by the Pune cyber police to the Vishrantwadi police for a formal FIR registration last Sunday. The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) employee told the police that unknown telecallers lured him with an offer to upgrade his credit cards, enabling him to avail of benefits like insurance cover, discounts on purchases, zero percent loans, and more . The victim told TOI, “I used my credit cards to transfer the money into some e-wallets in Delhi (as asked by the callers) via netbanking, to get the assured upgrades for a year. I did not know cards can be updated free of cost.” Asked why he had so many cards, the victim said, “The representatives of banks told me that the annual fee for using them lifelong is free. They were also giving me good limits. For instance, the limits rose to Rs3.30 lakh from Rs80,000 each over a period of time. Initially, I used these cards for fuel, ration, stationery, household items and work. I found they were working well, so I started using them to meet requirements of my family members.” The victim added, “I did not suspect the callers. I believed them to be genuine representatives of the banks that issued these cards. After making money transfers upto Rs20.19 lakh, I realised that I was being cheated and demanded for a refund. The crooks transferred Rs930 to my bank account and told me they will send me two demand drafts of the balance amount, but did not do so.”Senior inspector Dattatray Bhapkar of the Vishrantwadi police said, “The clerk shared personal details of the cards with the fraudsters and transferred money into their bank accounts in 47 transactions. But he did not get the promised benefits. We have written to the banks to provide details of the transactions made by the fraudsters.”
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