Bhubaneswar, Oct. 9: An assistant general manager of National Aluminium Company (Nalco) became a victim of cyber theft after Rs 1,60,000 was stolen from his bank account.

By producing fake papers, cyber criminals got hold of his SIM card and used his phone number to get his Internet banking code to withdraw money. Santosh Kumar Dash, the Damanjodi-based Nalco employee, realised on August 29 that his mobile phone had become inactive.

He then lodged a complaint with the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) office in Bhubaneswar. He was told that his number had been deactivated from the Rourkela office following a complaint that his SIM card had gone missing. His number was reactivated after he met BSNL officials in Bhubaneswar.

However, on August 30 Dash came to know about the bank fraud, following a call from State Bank of India, Damanjodi branch in Koraput. “The bank official told me that Rs 1,60,000 had been withdrawn from my account,” said Dash.

Dash, who was initially concerned with the sudden blocking of his mobile phone number, was utterly surprised to know that someone had withdrawn Rs 1,60,000 from his account. When he checked with the bank, it was found that the criminals had managed to get his secret Internet banking code using his mobile phone.

“I found the money had been transferred to four accounts through Internet banking system and had been withdrawn from Mumbai and Calcutta,” he said.

Dash, who usually resides in Damanjodi said that when his phone was deactivated he was in Bhubaneswar. He approached the BSNL office here and they instantly acted upon it.

“I found that the criminals had given the photocopy of the FIR about the mobile missing, in which the name of the police station was not mentioned. Besides the driving license furnished in Rourkela bore my name and house address with my father’s name and wrong PIN number,” said Dash.

Dash said he had filed a right to information inquiry at the BSNL office, seeking information about the call details during the time in which mobile phone was deactivated.

On September 4 Dash approached the crime branch officials who did not receive his complaints.

“I later met the additional director general of police Abhaya who heads the crime branch and after that a case was registered with Damanjodi police on September 20,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Damanjodi police said they had been investigating the matter.

“We have collected some crucial information regarding the incident. It is a first-of-its-kind in the state. We are not well-equipped to deal with such cyber crime incidents, so we have taken the help of crime branch,” said Bijoyini Singh, inspector-in-charge of Damanjodi police station, adding that she would go to Rourkela to get more information regarding the matter.