Kolkata: Two incidents of cyber fraud were reported in the Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate area, where fraudsters duped two women of over Rs 11 lakh through phone banking scams.In the first incident, Ganga Agarwal, a resident of a complex in the Mahajati Nagar area near Birati, filed a complaint at Airport PS stating that she lost Rs 4 lakh to cyber crooks. According to her complaint, on April 23, she received a call from someone claiming to be a private bank executive. The accused then informed her that her PAN details were deactivated. "The caller convinced me to share the OTPs I received on my mobile phone. Later, when I visited the bank, I discovered that Rs 4 lakh was fraudulently withdrawn from my account," said Agarwal. In another incident reported at Lake Town PS, Sompa Hajra, a resident of Dakashindari Bird Line Quarter, fell victim to a similar scam. On Feb 3, Hajra received a call from someone posing as a popular pay wallet employee, who persuaded her to share an OTP for an app update. "After sharing the OTP, I noticed that Rs 7.1 lakh was withdrawn from my bank account," she stated in her complaint. She initially filed an online complaint but lodged an FIR after getting no respite. The Lake Town PS registered a case under sections pertaining to cheating.A senior Bidhannagar cyber cell officer said: "We are seeing an increase in such cyber fraud cases. It is surprising that despite all our efforts, citizens are falling prey to such basic forms of crime. We urge citizens never to share OTPs or banking credentials with anyone over the phone."
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