A person, posing as an army man, allegedly duped a phlebotomist of a private diagnostic laboratory of ₹3,596 on the pretext of conducting tests for 27 people at the Army Public School at Danapur on Thursday, people familiar with the matter said.
According to police, the victim, identified as Sudhanshu Kumar (31), an employee at Sen Diagnostics Private Limited, lodged a complaint with the Kotwali police about the incident on Friday.
“The caller, who introduced himself as Satish Kumar, an army man, said he wanted to get some tests, including complete blood count, liver function test, kidney function test, random blood sugar, malaria parasite test, Widal (test for typhoid) and urine routine and culture done on 27 people, and asked me about their rates. When I told him that the tests would cost ₹3,070 per head, he told me that he would pay 50% of the total amount in advance through a credit card. But to make the payment through card, he wanted me to initiate a UPI transaction of ₹3,596 to the said credit card, whose number he shared with me,” Kumar told HT.
“Dressed in an army uniform, he guided me on a WhatsApp video call on how to make the UPI payment to the credit card. When the first transaction of ₹3,596 went through, without an OTP being generated, he called up again, asking me to make another payment of ₹10,000. That was when I became suspicious and refused. The person has since not responded to my calls,” he said.
Kumar said he has also lodged a complaint with the State Bank of India, where he holds an account.
Dr Indroneel Sen, director of Sen Diagnostics, said the reception desk of his laboratory got the first call around 3 pm on Thursday, and the person at the reception had shared Kumar’s number with the con man.
“Later, the same evening around 7pm, he called up again to ask for a copy of the Aadhaar of the person who would come to take the samples the next day, to make an entry pass into the Danapur army cantonment area,” said Dr. Sen.
“When I asked him for an official communication through e-mail or by hand, he said that would not be required as he would pay 50% of the total amount in advance through a credit card. That was when I became suspicious and asked my staff to hold, but by then he had already been duped of ₹3,596,” he said.
The station house officer of Kotwali police station Sanjit Kumar said that probe has been initiated in the case..
“We have got the complaint registered on the cyber portal today, and initiated preliminary investigations into the case. We have also got in touch with the complainant’s bank and are trying to track the name and address of the culprit through the bank account number to whose account the money has been remitted to. After we collect these facts, we will lodge a first information report (FIR) against the named accused,” the SHO said.