Bhadrak: In a case of cyber fraud, Dr. Srimadhab Sethy, a physician at the Dhamnagar Community Health Centre (CHC) in Odisha’s Bhadrak district, lost ₹75,000 to scammers.
According to the complaint filed at Dhamnagar police station and with the cyber police, the incident occurred on Tuesday when Dr. Sethy was attending to patients. He received a phone call from an unknown number, with the caller claiming to know him personally. The caller informed Dr. Sethy that a relative had been admitted to the hospital and requested his assistance in transferring money.
The caller further alleged that they were unable to transfer money directly to the relative’s account and had instead sent ₹75,000 to the doctor’s account. They shared a Google Pay screenshot as proof and requested Dr. Sethy to transfer the same amount to another account provided over WhatsApp.
Trusting the caller, Dr. Sethy transferred the amount without verifying his own account. Later, after completing his duties, he discovered that no such deposit had been made to his account. Realizing he had been duped, he promptly lodged a complaint with the police.
Dr. Sethy acknowledged his error, describing the incident as a result of negligence and a lack of caution while handling the situation. Authorities are investigating the matter.
