Cyber fraudsters siphoned Rs 5

Crime

Cyber fraudsters siphoned Rs 56 L from MP Kalyan Banerjee

Veteran lawyer and four-times Lok Sabha MP Kalyan Banerjee - a vocal leader in the Lower House surprisingly has fallen victim to a major cyber fraud, after hackers gained access to his inactive State Bank of India (SBI) account using forged KYC documents and siphoned off over Rs 56 lakhs, which raised eyebrows in the political arena and mounted pressure on the cyber crime detection wing today.

The incident came to light when Banerjee noticed that a large amount had been transferred from his active personal account — held at SBI’s Kalighat branch in Kolkata to an old, dormant account dating back to his tenure as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) between 2001 and 2006. The fraudsters then moved the funds through a series of accounts and used ATM withdrawals and jewelry purchases to drain the entire balance skillfully.

According to SBI’s official complaint, the perpetrators had created fake PAN and Aadhaar cards in Banerjee’s name, using another person’s photograph. With the help of these forged tools, they successfully updated the Know Your Customer (KYC) details of the dormant account on last 28 October, and simultaneously changed the registered mobile number linked to the account to help manipulate the and grab the control panel into their hand.

Once control was established, they executed unauthorized transactions amounting to Rs 56.39 lakh effectively wiping out the entire balance from the linked account network, the Cyber Crime Police said.