Woman alleges bank account misused for cyber fraud

The East Division Cybercrime Police are on the lookout for a private firm employee who allegedly lured his friend’s mother into opening a bank account under the pretext of availing Gruhalakshmi scheme benefits, and later used the account for cybercrime activities.

Based on the complaint filed by Parvathi, 55, from Ramamurthy Nagar, the police identified the accused as Sanmagesh, and charged him under section 318(4) (cheating and dishonestly inducing the delivery of property) and also under various sections of IT Act, 2000 on Monday.

According to the complaint, Sanmagesh, who works at a private firm in Hosur along with the complainant’s son, approached claiming that under the Gruhalakshmi scheme, a monthly financial benefit of ₹2,000 would be credited to Parvathi’s bank account. He allegedly demanded ₹10,000 as processing charges, out of which ₹7,000 was paid.

Parvathi said that since she was unwell at the time, her son Ramesh handled the process on her behalf. Acting on the accused’s instructions, they opened a bank account at a Federal Bank branch in Banaswadi.

Later, Sanmagesh allegedly collected the bank passbook, cheque book, ATM card and ₹5,000 in cash, stating it was required for scheme processing. He also obtained the OTP from them under the pretext of completing formalities.

After a month, when Ramesh contacted him regarding the status of the scheme, the accused allegedly gave vague responses and later stopped answering calls. Subsequently, he became completely untraceable.

Parvathi later discovered that a sum of ₹10,63,610 had been credited and routed through her bank account without her knowledge. She suspects that her account was used for illegal online transactions. Based on the complaint, the East Division Cyber Crime Police have registered a case and are investigating the role of the accused in the alleged cyber fraud.

It may be recalled that the Karnataka Cyber Command Centre (CCC) launched a massive, state-wide special drive in February 2026 targeting “mule accounts” used to launder proceeds from cyber scams. The operation, led by DGP Pronab Mohanty, involved raids across 29 districts and identified over 42,000 suspicious accounts, according to reports from early February 2026.