IAS P K Gera, currently serving as the managing director of Gujarat Alkalies and Chemicals Ltd, has fallen prey to a cyber-fraud where he lost Rs. 94,999 through a deceptive online transaction from his credit card. Gera had been regularly been receiving an SMS on his mobile about completing the KYC procedure for his PayTM wallet. This SMS also stated that his PayTM services could be shut if these procedures were not completed. To complete the procedure, Gera was supposed to call on the mobile number provided in the SMS, which he did on 21^st Aug’19. During the phone call, Gera spoke to a man talking in Hindi who took down all his KYC details and later told him to download Team Viewer Quick Support application on Gera’s mobile phone. The man asked Gera to logout of PayTM wallet and login again. In his complaint, Gera also stated that the caller later asked him if he wanted to open a PayTM savings bank account by just making a transaction of Rs. 10. Gera, a resident of Akota

Author-Nikisha Adhari