Nagpur:

Chhattisgarh government’s information technology department asked Punjab National Bank to transfer back Rs22.36 lakh to the account of Raipur resident, who was victim of phishing. The amount was fraudulently withdrawn by the accused.

The complaint was lodged under IT Act, 2000, in which Tushar Mohanty, a businessman from Raipur, was trapped by fake call and website resembling the government’s one. According to IT expert and lawyer Mahendra Limaye, a similar complaint was lodged in Nagpur, by Bodhiratna Fulzele, on June 25, 2014. Even here, the amount was transferred into the account of same accused — SK Ibrahim, but in Axis Bank branch in Balasore, Odisha. The Maharashtra adjudicator ruled in Fulzele’s favour on January 15 last year, by providing him relief. In both cases, the accused persons tried to dupe complainants by promising them bank loans under Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE).

In Mohanty’s case, the accused allegedly registered the domain name — www.cgtmse-govt.in, which was deceptively similar to the government’s website — www.cgtmse.in. They copied entire contents from original website and cheated many gullible persons under the pretext of providing loans.

In 2014, Mohanty received fake call and SMS regarding schemes floated by Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE), a Government of India undertaking. It was pertaining to granting subsidies for needy and deserving persons on government’s behalf. The alleged fraudsters asked him to visit the website for more information.

Mohanty decided to avail loan of Rs1 crore, as he wanted to develop a hotel at his property in Puri. He was asked to maintain 30% of loan amount in his account in order to avail the actual loan and also to prove his worth.

Later, he was asked to visit Howrah in West Bengal for completion of formalities and was told to handover signed blank cheques and ATM cards for verification. During his stay there, he came to know that Rs22.36 lakh was deducted from his account and transferred fraudulently to that of Ibrahim in PNB. After realizing that he was cheated, he approached Ibrahim for refund, but latter denied receiving any such amount and even threatened him with dire consequences. Subsequently, Mohanty lodged a complaint with Civil Lines Police station in Raipur on January 21, last year.

Adjudicating officer OP Yadav, who is IT secretary with Chhattisgarh Government, directed the PNB to transfer amount from Ibrahim’s account to the complainant. “The complainant is victim of phishing attack. He was made to believe that he was interacting with the CGTMSE’s representative. He himself provided blank cheque having signatures to the accused. It’s quite clear that Ibrahim had no claim over Rs22.36 lakh, fraudulently transferred from Mohanty’s account.”

The judge added that if PNB felt it necessary to obtain concurrence from Nagpur and Raipur police, they can do so by providing order copy.

What the judge said

* The complainant is victim of phishing attack

* He made to believe that he was interacting with CGTMSE’s representative

* He himself provided blank cheque having his signatures to accused

* It’s quite clear that accused had no claim over Rs22.36 lakh

* PNB to transfer back amount from accused’s account to complainant

(With inputs from

Sanjeev

Singh)