Special Chief Secretary to TS govt B.P Acharya falls victim to cybercrime

Hyderabad: Senior IAS officer and Special Chief Secretary to the Government of Telangana B.P. Acharya became victim of cyber fraud. Cyber fraudsters siphoned Rs 10,000 from his account, without his knowledge, after which he lodged a complaint with the cybercrime wing of Hyderabad city police.

The incident indicates how any person can become a victim of cyber fraud and how fraudsters con people easily. Acharya is also the Director, Dr. Marri Channa Reddy Human Resource Development Institute of Telangana, which guides training institutes for civil servants and government officials of the Government of Telangana located in Hyderabad.

On May 5, Acharya received an SMS on his mobile number registered with the bank, where he has his account. The message informed that his debit card was used for a transaction of Re.1. It asked him to alert the bank or block the card, if the transaction was not done by him.

Moments later, he received another SMS which said that a transaction of Rs 10,000 was done from the same debit card, with the same caution to block the card or alert the bank immediately, if the transaction was not done by him. Around the same time, he received a call from an unknown number, which indicated Jaipur in Rajasthan.

Both the transactions happened without his knowledge and he did not use his card on that particular day for any transactions. He immediately called up the bank and raised a request to block the card, but by then Rs 10,000 was debited from the account.

Based on a complaint lodged by him, cybercrime police registered a case and started investigation.