Retired RBI Employee in Ameerpet Loses Rs 3.25 Lakh in Fake ECI Verification Scam

A retired Reserve Bank of India (RBI) employee residing in Ameerpet, Hyderabad, lost Rs 3.25 lakh after cyber fraudsters posing as Election Commission of India (ECI) officials tricked him into downloading a malicious software application. The victim approached the Hyderabad Cybercrime police after discovering that funds had been illicitly debited from his bank accounts, prompting law enforcement authorities to register a criminal case and launch a formal investigation into the matter.

According to the details of the complaint, the fraudulent activity commenced on August 8, when the victim received a text message from an unidentified phone number. The message claimed to be an official communication from an ECI official, warning the Ameerpet resident that he was required to complete his mandatory verification process within a strict 48-hour timeframe.

Shortly after sending the text message, the scammer contacted the retired employee through WhatsApp to guide him through the purported verification steps. The fraudster informed the victim that a nominal payment of Rs 4 was required to complete the official process. To facilitate this payment, the caller provided a link directing the victim to download a malicious APK file named “ECI-Customer Support (PDF).”

The interaction escalated further when the fraudster reached out to the victim via a video call. During the call, the impersonator informed the complainant that his initial payment transaction of Rs 4 had encountered an error and failed to go through. Under the pretext of resolving the technical issue, the scammer prompted the retired employee to make another small payment of Rs 5.

Shortly after attempting the secondary payment transaction, the victim discovered that a cumulative sum of Rs 3.25 lakh had been debited without his authorization from his two separate bank accounts.

Upon realizing that he had fallen victim to a cyber scam, the Ameerpet resident promptly approached the Hyderabad Cybercrime police station to lodge an official complaint. The cybercrime officials registered a case based on the victim's statement and have initiated a police investigation to identify the perpetrators and trace the stolen funds.