India: Retired teacher loses Rs2.1 million in WhatsApp fraud

A retired teacher from Andhra Pradesh lost around Rs2.1 million from her bank account after receiving a WhatsApp message from an unknown number on Monday.

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

According to Varalakshmi, she received a message on WhatsApp with a link attached to it. She clicked on the link following which several bank transactions of money withdrawals were made by alleged cybercriminals who had hacked into her phone.

The cybercriminals withdrew a total of Rs2.1 million from her account, making initial deductions of Rs 20,000, Rs 40,000 and Rs 80,000.

Varalakshmi has filed a complaint with the Cyber Crime Police.

"A retired teacher named Varalakshmi of Reddeppanaidu Colony in Madanapalle town of Annamayya district received a WhatsApp message", said II-Town Circle Inspector (CI) Muralikrishna. "The message was from an unknown number, and she opened it several times. Since then, she has been receiving messages saying the money has been deducted from her account.

When she showed it to the bank officials, they said that her account was hacked. She lodged a complaint on the cybercrime toll-free number 1930 on Saturday."

Another similar incident took place recently, according to the police official, when "Rs 1.2 million were stolen from the account of Gnanaprakash, a software employee from Madanapalle".

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

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