Rayagada: Cybercriminals defrauded a doctor of Rs 3.21 lakh by impersonating Army staff and on the pretext of making an advance payment for treatment in his clinic in this town, police said Tuesday. The matter came to the fore after the victim’s wife lodged a complaint at the Town police station in Rayagada, Tuesday. Police registered a case and started an investigation. Police said the victim Naba Kishore Kundu, a noted physician in Rayagada town, got a call on his phone where the caller requested to treat him at his private clinic by identifying himself as a doctor of Indian Army. The caller also assured him to make an advance payment for his treatment following which Kundu agreed to treat him. Later, the caller wanted the phone number of the doctor linked to his bank account through which he can send money through PhonePe.
Kundu informed that he does not have any PhonePe number and handed over the phone to his wife. The caller asked Kundu’s wife to open the PhonePe app and click on the credit card link so that he could transfer the money to her account. However, as soon as she clicked on the credit card link, Rs 3.21 lakh was debited from her account in quick succession. Town police station IIC KKBK Kanhar confirmed to have received the complaint for which a probe is underway. Notably, a girl was defrauded of Rs 20,000 from her bank account when she was searching online to cancel her train ticket which she had booked for travel. Similarly, another youth recently lost Rs 90,000 from his bank account to cybercriminals. Cases have also been lodged in this regard and police is conducting a probe, the IIC added.