A businessman in Durgapur, West Bengal, says Rs 6 lakh disappeared from his bank account within a matter of hours, even though he never shared an OTP, never clicked on a suspicious link and never answered a single unknown call. The debit alert left his entire family stunned, and the case has unsettled the whole industrial belt of Durgapur.
Multiple Calls Hit His Phone On Monday
According to the details available, Prabuddha Guha, a businessman who lives in the Vidhannagar area of Durgapur, started receiving a string of phone calls on his mobile on Monday. Guha did not answer any of these calls, nor did he give out his OTP to anyone. Sensing that something was off about the repeated calls, he alerted his bank's officials right away, hoping to keep his account safe from any potential threat.
Even Informing The Bank Didn't Save The Money
Guha had expected that flagging the calls to his bank in time would protect his account. But allegedly, just a few hours after he informed the bank, a message landed on his phone confirming that Rs 6 lakh had been debited from his account. Reading that message left him shaken, since he insists he never shared any detail that could have allowed such a transaction to go through.
Savings Meant For Treatment And His Son's Admission
The incident has left the entire family shaken. They say the Rs 6 lakh was the last of their savings, painstakingly set aside to cover medical treatment expenses and their son's admission to school. With the whole amount gone in one stroke, the family is now under severe financial stress. Written complaints have already been filed with various administrative departments, and officials have opened an investigation to determine exactly how the money was withdrawn without an OTP or an answered call.
Fraudsters Keep Changing Their Playbook
Scammers have been constantly switching up their methods to drain victims' bank accounts, and cyber fraud in particular has become one of the most talked-about forms of this crime. Typically, fraudsters gain access to a victim's phone either by tricking them into sharing an OTP or by getting them to click a malicious link, and then use that access to siphon off funds. In this Durgapur case, the businessman maintains he made neither mistake, yet his account was still emptied, which is what makes the case especially troubling for investigators. The episode has also rattled other local residents, since if an account can be emptied despite every precaution, ordinary depositors have every reason to worry.
