Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Dec 8: In order to unearth the fraudsters who dupe the innocent public by impersonating online as officials of the Bank and thereby withdrawing money from their accounts illegally, Crime Branch, Jammu has registered an FIR against a notorious gang of cheats.
The FIR was registered after a preliminary enquiry by the Crime Branch, Jammu on a complaint of one BSF official namely Sudama of village Sirsa in UP, presently posted in 200 Bn of BSF VOP SM Pur (Ramgarh Sector).
The complainant alleged that he received a phone call from a cell number wherein the caller identified himself as Manager of State Bank of India and asked him to share the PIN of his debit card on the pretext of making correction in Bank records and thereafter from December 20, 2013 to January 20, 2014 an amount of Rs 2, 77,300/- was withdrawn by some unknown persons from his Bank account.
During the course of enquiry, bank transaction details of the account were obtained and it was found that fraudulent withdrawals/Internet purchases worth Rs 2,77,300/- have been made through the account numbers of Prashant Kumar Varnawal of Varnawal, Pradeep Mahto (3) Ram Chander Mandal and Sohan Singh ( all residents of Jharkhand), Laishram Robel Singh of Chajing Karam, Imphal, Shyamal Hazra of Kolkata, Ananya Dutta of Mahatama Gandhi Road Jorasanka Kolkata, Ajay Kumar Gupta of Radha Madhav Shah Lane Jorisaku Kolkata and unknown persons.
It was established during the enquiry that a gang of cheats and fraudsters including the above named persons call innocent persons introducing them as Bank employees or managers and seek PIN details of their ATM/Debit Cards on the pretext of making certain corrections in the bank records and thereafter withdraw the money from the bank accounts by resorting to fraudulent means.
Accordingly, a case FIR number 25/2014 under section 419, 420, 465, 466, 467, 468, 471,120-B RPC read with Sec 66C & 66D of the IT Act 2000 was registered in Crime Branch, Jammu and further investigation has been taken up.
SSP Crime Branch, Jammu Mubassir Latifi said that number of similar complaints have been received in Crime Branch from different parts of Jammu province where innocent people have been duped of their money by misleading and impersonation. All those complaints would also be investigated and the whole racket of these tricksters would be unearthed and culprits would be brought to book.