A family residing in the Vasant Vihar area of Dehradun has fallen victim to a major cyber fraud. Arvind Krishna Gupta and his family lost Rs 1.63 lakh while attempting to retrieve luggage that had been left behind at Jolly Grant Airport. On February 17, some of the family’s belongings were accidentally left at the airport. In an effort to recover the items, Shalini Gupta searched online for the airport’s contact number and called it. The person who answered assured her not to worry and said the luggage would be delivered home after paying a nominal delivery charge of just Rs 5.
Trusting the caller, Shalini transferred Rs 5 through UPI as instructed. Shortly afterward, the caller claimed the payment had not been received and asked her to send the amount again using another phone. She then made a second transfer of Rs 5 using her husband’s mobile phone. Immediately after the second transaction, both phones were compromised. All banking applications linked to their devices disappeared. Within minutes, beginning around 7:20 am, money was siphoned off from three separate bank accounts, leaving the family shocked and helpless.
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The cybercriminals simultaneously targeted three different accounts. A total of Rs 99,000 was withdrawn from Arvind Gupta’s account with Axis Bank, Rs 8,000 was taken from his account in IndusInd Bank, and Rs 56,000 was debited from Shalini Gupta’s IndusInd Bank account, amounting to a combined loss of Rs 1.63 lakh. The family lodged a complaint on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal at 10:45 am the same day, while a written complaint was submitted to the police on February 20. Fraudsters often post fake contact numbers of airports, रेलवे stations, banks, and government offices online, luring unsuspecting people. Citizens are advised to verify numbers only through official websites and never transfer money to unknown callers.