Pension wiped off: Senior citizen loses ₹1.67 lakh

Pension wiped off: Senior citizen loses ₹1.67 lakh

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Ahmedabad:  7.8.2021 

Ukabhai Solanki, a retired teacher, has lost Rs 1.67 lakh of his pension money, which has been sucked out by a criminal using a cloned ATM card. Solanki now has only Rs 471 in the account. His money was taken over a period of seven days from July 7 to 14.

Solanki, a resident of Bapunagar, maintains an account in the Saraspur branch of a nationalized bank. His pension was credited every month into this account. Solanki lodged a complaint of cheating with Bapunagar police on Thursday. “According to the FIR, Solanki went to the bank to check the account balance. He was planning a few expenses. When he saw multiple entries of withdrawal on his passbook, he was shocked. He had not used the ATM card for the transactions and claims that the card was with him at the time of the offence,” an investigator said.

The accused withdrew up to Rs 15,000 at a go and used the card almost daily for a week. “Probe is on to ascertain the identity of the person or persons who had visited the ATM for the withdrawals,” said the investigator. “The banks concerned have also been approached to get more details.”

Times View

Over the past two years, there has been a steep rise in senior citizens becoming easy targets of cybercrooks. These criminals approach the elderly while pretending to offer tech support, or governmental assistance and services or even bait them with online friendship requests which turn in to blackmail. The cybercrime department, like in Delhi, Bangalore, and Hyderabad, should initiate targeted campaigns to raise awareness among senior citizens and arm them with simple strategies to avoid falling into such traps and losing their hard-earned money.