After phone is stolen, Defence ministry official loses over ₹1L from account
After 24 hours when the duplicate SIM card got activated, the officer found that funds were transferred from two of his bank accounts
A senior defence ministry official and a resident of Noida’s Sector 135 lost ₹1.19 lakh from his two bank accounts after his mobile phone was stolen from a local market in the city earlier this month, senior police officers said on Thursday.
According to complainant lieutenant colonel Ashiesh Kumar Dwivedi (40), on July 6, his mobile phone was stolen from a local vegetable market in Wajidpur village of Noida.
“Someone took my mobile from my pocket and I realised this only later. The next day, on July 7, I submitted a complaint at the Expressway police station in Noida. After submitting the complaint, I went to the Sector 18 market to buy a new phone and sim card,” said Dwivedi, who is a joint director with the Union defence ministry.
After 24 hours when the duplicate SIM card got activated, Dwivedi found that funds were transferred from two of his bank accounts.
“While ₹79,000 was deducted from one account, ₹34,000 was deducted from the second account. The money was spent on purchasing e-commerce gift cards, as my netbanking passwords were saved in my mobile phone. I rushed to the police station again, and registered a separate cybercrime complaint on July 8,” said Dwivedi, adding an FIR was registered on his complaint on Wednesday.
“One FIR has been registered under charges of theft for the stolen mobile phone, while another FIR has been registered under relevant sections of the IT Act, for cyber fraud. Police teams were deployed as soon as the first complaint was received,” said Sunil Kumar, station house officer, Expressway police station.
He further said the funds siphoned off from both accounts have been put on hold by the police, and soon will be returned to the complainant.
“We have managed to recover at least 90% of the stolen amount. While ₹34,000 is already back in his account, the rest of the amount has been put on hold and will be recovered soon,” said the SHO.
Acknowledging the police effort to recover his lost funds, Dwivedi said, “The police have been very helpful and I have recovered almost all the money I lost in the cyber fraud.”
Police, however, are yet to make any headway in nabbing the person or persons who stole the lieutenant colonel’s mobile phone from the market.