Some years ago, cyber fraudsters drained Rs 23 lakh from the account of Preneet Kaur, former member of Parliament and wife of the former chief minister of Punjab, Amarinder Singh.
The callers from Jamtara hit upon her number by chance. Kaur, then an MP from Patiala, was in Delhi and had just left her residence to attend the day’s session in Parliament. The caller introduced himself as the manager of the bank branch where her salary was credited. On the pretext that her account had been marked as dormant because she had not withdrawn money for some time, he said her KYC needed an urgent update and asked for her ATM card details. In a rush, the MP shared all her details with the caller. As soon as they got hold of her banking information and the OTP, Rs 23 lakh disappeared within minutes. A complaint was lodged at the Parliament Street Police Station, and both Delhi and Punjab Police started an investigation.
One Ataul Ansari was eventually arrested from Karmatar. Ansari was a local leader of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha. Tracking him down was far from easy. The Rs 23 lakh from Kaur’s account had been transferred to 28 different accounts, of which…
Source: Scroll.in
