Man loses ₹90,000 to conmen posing as tax officials

As the time to file Income Tax Returns approaches, be wary of emails claiming to be from the Income Tax Department as they could be from criminals preying on unsuspecting people.

A 38-year-old private firm employee fell victim to one such scam, which cost him ₹90,000 when he clicked on a link that he thought was from tax officials.

In his complaint to the police, Ritesh Kumar Sahay, who resides in Ulsoor, said he received an email from ‘info@etaxcpc.in’ with a letter from the I-T Department informing him that his bank account details were needed so that a sum of ₹22,924.94 could be returned to him as tax rebate.

Following the directions in the mail, Sahay clicked on a link that was part of the message. It took him to a site that asked him fill in personal details, including his PAN, Aadhaar and bank account details.

Within a few hours, Sahay was notified that a sum of ₹90,000 had been withdrawn from his account via several online transactions. It was only when he approached the I-T Department that he realised that he had fallen victim to a phishing scam.

On Thursday, he approached the cybercrime police and lodged a complaint.

According to the police, this is one of the most common forms of phishing. “By convincing people that they are from the I-T Department, conmen get bank details, credit card numbers and personal information. We have sought details of the money withdrawn to track down the accused,” a senior police officer said.