TMC Lok Sabha MP Kalyan Banerjee got ₹57 lakh that was stolen from one of his SBI accounts, but raised the question of how much security there is for the common man of the country against cyber fraud when someone of his stature can be targeted so easily, according to NDTV the report
Banerjee recently lost ₹57 lakh due to a cyber fraud targeting his dormant account at State Bank of India (SBI).
The lawyer-politician questioned why the Nirmala Sitharaman-led Finance Ministry is not setting up an anti-cyber fraud unit.
Banerjee, according to the publication, also said the bank refunded the money to his account and cited an internal error.
“If a person like me is trapped in bank fraud, what will the common people face? Why doesn’t the Ministry of Finance set up an anti-cyberfraud unit?” Banerjee said NDTV.
Banerjee, in his interview with the publication, claimed that someone had carried out a scam using his KYC (know your customer) details.
He had earlier claimed that the attackers added a phone number to that account, after which an OTP (one-time password) and transaction details were sent to them.
“Criminals transferred ₹57 lakh from my account. If this can happen to a deputy, what is the condition of an ordinary person? How did these people know that I had such a large amount of money in my account?” Banerjee then asked. PTI.
“Someone did a KYC scam. My photo was superimposed. PAN and Aadhaar were misused. Using this account, almost ₹57 lakh was withdrawn from my account, which I won as an MP,” he said NDTV.
The bank filed a complaint with the Kolkata Police’s cyber crime branch after detecting suspicious transactions in Banerjee’s account.
Later, the bank provided credit ₹57 lakh to his account in Parliament, Banerjee told the publication.
“After SBI filed the complaint, the matter is being investigated. On Friday evening, SBI counted ₹57 lakhs in my parliamentary account. They said it was due to some internal error,” he said.
NDTV spoke to official informed sources who said cybercriminals accessed Banerjee’s SBI account in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly and the amount was transferred through a series of unauthorized transactions.
The account from which the money was stolen was opened between 2001 and 2006, when Banerjee was the Member of Parliament for the Asansol South constituency.
