TMC MP loses ₹57 lakh in cyber fraud
Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee lost ₹57 lakh after cybercriminals gained access to his old, dormant SBI account through fraudulent KYC documents.
The scammers used fake PAN and Aadhaar cards with a morphed photo of Banerjee to reactivate the account, which he'd opened years ago while serving as Asansol South MLA.
Fraudsters updated KYC details, swapped in new phone number
The fraudsters updated KYC details and swapped in a new phone number to intercept OTPs and alerts. They then moved ₹57 lakh from Banerjee's active account into the reactivated one, quickly draining the funds through unauthorized transfers.
SBI spotted something fishy, flagged it to Kolkata Police's cybercrime unit, and has since refunded the money because of some internal fault.
Police are now tracing transactions and reviewing CCTV footage, but as of November 8, no arrests have been made yet.