Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Apr 17: Many people dependent on daily wage they earn out of their work in construction industry in particular have become jobless on account of coronavirus-induced lockdown. This has not stopped people engaged in cybercrime from continuing to dupe gullible people and siphoning off their hard earned money from their accounts.

Narayan (44), working as a mason and residing at Pattegara Palya here, also has been affected by the lockdown. He received a telephone call. The caller said that Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, would be crediting Rs 10,000 to accounts of people who have become jobless due to lockdown.

Narayan said that on April 11 evening, when he was sitting at his home, he received a call at 6 pm. "The caller, who was speaking in Hindi, asked me to provide him the message I had received on his mobile phone, so that the money sanctioned by Modi can be put into that account. When I explained that I did not understand Hindi, another man told me the same message in Kannada. The caller said that if the details are not provided, the account would be blocked and he will face problems. Feeling threatened, I provided two messages I had received, and a sum of one lac rupees was debited to my account within minutes in two transactions," he elaborated.

"I am living in a rented home. I wanted to take a house on lease and therefore had saved money by working hard for long. I am distressed now. I never had any doubt about being cheated," Narayan stated. He said he had not shared account or card number with the callers.

Bengaluru central crime branch joint police commissioner Sandeep Patil, has cautioned people against providing details over phone as callers can make many excuses in the name of government schemes, lockdown, etc to extract details from them. He has asked the people to desist from providing details over phone and visit bank branches personally in case of doubt.