A senior paediatrician in Agartala alleges a Rs 7 lakh theft from his UCO Bank account through unauthorised transactions, raising questions over banking authentication and security measures amid recent financial scams in the region.
A senior paediatrician in Agartala has alleged that nearly Rs 7 lakh was taken from his UCO Bank account in a series of transactions between July 6 and July 15, even though he says he did not share an OTP and was not using internet banking.
According to the complaint, the doctor, who holds an account at the bank’s Purvasha branch, was in Kolkata for almost a month for treatment of an eye condition and had been relying mainly on cheques rather than digital banking. He said an unidentified caller contacted his family while he was away and claimed to be calling from the bank, seeking an OTP for verification. His wife allegedly refused to provide it and said the family would deal with the bank directly if needed.
The alleged fraud came to light after the doctor returned to Agartala and visited the bank on August 7 to withdraw money. He was then told that several transactions had already been made from the account, involving a total of nearly Rs 7 lakh. Bank staff later suggested that he may have been the victim of cyber fraud, while the doctor said he was given no clear explanation of how the money moved or what, if anything, the bank was doing to recover it.
He has also questioned how the transactions could have been authorised without his knowledge, saying he had not signed up for internet banking and did not use an ATM card. According to his account, the bank said text alerts had been sent to his registered mobile number, but he argued that receiving SMS notifications alone does not prove a transaction was authorised, particularly as he was away and using his phone only sparingly during treatment.
The matter is now being examined by authorities, who have yet to establish how the transfers were initiated, what authentication was used or whether any banking details were compromised. The complaint has again drawn attention to banking security in Tripura, where another UCO Bank-linked fraud case involving the Agartala Municipal Corporation has recently been in the news. In that separate case, police and the Special Investigation Team have reported arrests and the recovery of Rs 7 crore from an alleged Rs 16 crore cheque fraud, according to local and national media reports.
Disclaimer: This article is intended to inform and educate, not to recommend or endorse any financial product, investment or strategy. Please consider your own financial circumstances and seek professional advice where appropriate before making financial decisions.
