Elderly man loses Rs 7.7 lakh in cyber scam using fake SIR name correction link in Kerala
Thrippunithura: An elderly man lost Rs 7.7 lakh to cyber fraudsters who allegedly duped him by claiming that there were discrepancies in his Special Intensive Revision (SIR) details and sending him a fraudulent link.
Parameswaran Nair, 72, a resident of Sandragitham House in Eroor West, Thrippunithura, lost the money from two accounts held with a private bank. The incident occurred around 2 pm on October 30.
The fraudsters initially sent him an SMS claiming there was a mismatch between his name and his father's name in the SIR records and asking him to contact the Election Commission office.
Later, posing as officials helping him update the details, they sent a fraudulent WhatsApp link titled 'Form for correcting name' and asked him to pay a fee of Rs 10. When Nair said he was unable to make the payment, the fraudsters offered to assist him and obtained his bank account and ATM card details.
He subsequently lost Rs 7.7 lakh in total — Rs 3.2 lakh from one account and Rs 4.5 lakh from another, both held at the private bank's Vadakkekotta branch in Thrippunithura.
Hill Palace police have registered a case and launched an investigation.