Retired RBI Employee in Ameerpet Duped of Rs 3.5 Lakh in Fake ECI Voter Scam

Cyber fraudsters duped a 75-year-old retired Reserve Bank of India employee residing in Ameerpet of Rs 3.50 lakh through a fake Election Commission of India voter verification scheme, leading to a complaint being lodged with the Hyderabad cybercrimes police on Tuesday.

The victim, Vishnu Mohan Venna, reported receiving a text message four days ago requesting him to share his voter ID card via WhatsApp, with a promise that the Election Commission of India would contact him within 48 hours. Believing the communication to be genuine, Mohan sent a photograph of his voter ID card through WhatsApp at around 5:21 p.m.

Shortly after sending the image, Mohan received a WhatsApp call informing him that his name did not match his father's name. At 5:31 p.m., he received another message prompting him to download a voter verification link and fill in his personal details. The fraudster then forwarded an APK file for him to install and requested a payment of Rs 5 as verification charges.

Mohan attempted to make the Rs 5 payment using internet banking, but the transaction showed as unsuccessful. The scammer then initiated a WhatsApp video call, claiming server failures were delaying the payment and stating that Mohan needed to undergo a face verification step. Trusting the process, Mohan continued with the call.

At 8:26 p.m., Mohan received a notification from his bank stating that an amount of Rs 3.25 lakh had been debited from his account without authorization. At around the same time, an additional Rs 2 lakh was transferred without his authorization from one of his bank accounts to another account. Mohan alerted bank officials immediately to block the account, which prevented further unauthorized transactions, and received confirmation of his debit card deactivation at 8:43 p.m.

Following the incident, Mohan reported the fraud on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal and filed an official complaint with the police. Based on his statement, the Hyderabad cybercrimes police registered a case under Sections 66C and 66D of the Information Technology Act, alongside Sections 318(4) and 319(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.