After being duped into divulging a one-time password (OTP) over the phone, a student at the esteemed National Institute of Technology, Rourkela (NIT-R) lost ₹91,000 as a result of a sophisticated cyber scam.
Police say that a person claiming to be a bank representative called the victim and offered to raise his credit card limit. The caller persuaded the student that verification was necessary for the upgrade and asked for the OTP to be sent to his mobile device. The student’s bank account was depleted within minutes of disclosing the code.
The student promptly filed a complaint with the cybercrime unit of the Rourkela police. Since then, investigators have notified the bank, which has blocked additional transactions while they look for the fraudulent account. Authorities think a larger phishing network targeting young professionals and students carried out the scam.
A senior cybercrime officer described the incident as “a textbook case of social engineering,” in which the victim was tricked into divulging private information. “Voice scams are now the most effective tool used by cybercriminals, who are going beyond emails and texts.”
Police have warned people not to give out passwords, PINs, or OTPs, even to people posing as bank representatives. They emphasized that trustworthy financial organizations never call and ask for such information.
Students at NIT-R, many of whom rely significantly on digital transactions for everyday expenses, are alarmed by the incident. Tech-savvy young people are becoming more and more vulnerable, according to experts, as scammers take advantage of their faith in online procedures.
To inform students about cyber hygiene and the growing danger of voice phishing, authorities are now organizing campus awareness campaigns. However, the lesson has already cost one NIT-R student ₹91,000 in a single phone call.
