Jeypore: Tara Prasad Bahinipati, a Congress MLA from Jeypore, on Tuesday claimed that cybercriminals defrauded him of Rs 4 lakh two months ago.
Recently, while attending a cyber awareness event at Jeypore Government High School, Bahinipati warned attendees to exercise caution and not reveal their OTP to anyone or take any calls from opportunistic callers.
Two months ago, I received a call from a total stranger. I was asked if I would be interested in opening a dealership for cement. When I expressed my interest, he promised to give three to four companies permission to conduct business under my brother’s name, according to Bahinipati.
“The caller asked for my account number to complete future financial transactions. Once I gave the caller my account number, I received an OTP. My account was emptied of Rs 4 lakh after I gave him the OTP. He did not, however, grant my brother’s name to the cement dealership. After the transactions, he didn’t write back,” he continued.
Later, Bahinipati complained to the Koraput district’s Cyber Police about this. In this context, the authorities investigated and located the cybercriminals in Bihar.
People should use extra caution around these con artists. To prevent these kinds of instances, they shouldn’t provide their account numbers or any other information to a total stranger, advised Bahinipati.
