Army officer loses Rs 4 lakh despite asking bank to freeze account

Pointing out a major loophole on the side of a bank, a senior army officer who was posted in Bengaluru lost around Rs 4 lakh in banking fraud. The money from his account was withdrawn even after requesting the bank to freeze his account. The officer has no lodged a complaint with the police against the officials of the nationalized bank and e-wallet firms which were used by scamsters.

According to the police, on August 21, the 52-year-old Brigadier tried to withdraw Rs 10,000 but the transaction failed. In his next attempt he successfully withdrew Rs 15,000 but the bank slip showed that Rs 25,000 was withdrawn.

A day later, Brigadier contacted the helpline number of the bank requesting for reversal of Rs 10,000. The bank executive asked him for some details and said the money will be back in next two days. But what happened next left the victim shocked as four transactions were made of Rs 49,999 each with a span of four minutes on August 23.

He immediately rushed to the bank and requested them to block his cards and freeze his account as his details were being misused. Following a visit to the bank, he registered an FIR at Viveknagar police station.

“What is more shocking is that after bank’s assurance that my account is frozen a amount of Rs 1,99,996 was debited again from my account on August 24,” said the complainant.

This time again, four transactions were made in four minutes to siphon out money. All the transactions were initiated through an e-wallet mobile application.

The Brigadier has complained against the bank officials and an e-wallet firm to the police. Cops are yet to find out how money was withdrawn from his account despite requesting bank to freeze his account.