Retired AP teacher loses Rs 21 lakh in WhatsApp fraud

Annamayya (Andhra Pradesh): A retired teacher from Andhra Pradesh lost around Rs 21 lakh from her bank account after receiving a WhatsApp message from an unknown number on Monday.

Retired teacher Varalakshmi who is a resident of Annamayya district in Andhra Pradesh became a victim of cyber fraud after receiving a WhatsApp message from an unknown number, as informed by the area police.

According to Varalakshmi, she received a message on WhatsApp with a link attached to it. As she said, she clicked on the link and since then several bank transactions of money withdrawals have been made by some alleged cybercriminal who hacked into her phone.

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The cybercriminals withdrew a total of Rs 21 lakh from her account making some initial deductions of Rs 20,000, Rs 40,000 and Rs 80,000. Varalakshmi has filed a complaint with the Cyber Crime Police.

According to II-Town Circle Inspector (CI) Muralikrishna, "A retired teacher named Varalakshmi of Reddeppanaidu Colony in Madanapalle town of Annamayya district received a WhatsApp message. From an unknown number, she opened it several times. Since then, she has been receiving messages that the money has been deducted from her account. When she was surprised and showed it to the bank officials, they said that her account was hacked. She lodged a complaint on cybercrime toll-free number 1930 on Saturday"

Cybercriminals hacked her phone and other details and thus have withdrawn around Rs 21 lakh, as she alleged. Recently, another similar incident took place as informed the police official, when "Rs 12 lakh from the account of Gnanaprakash, a software employee from Madanapalle were stolen".

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The II-Town police station registered a case in that incident too. (ANI)

• #Andhra Pradesh
• #Annamayya
• #WhatsApp
• #fraud
• #crime
• #Teacher