Padma awardee falls prey to credit fraud

A horticultural scientist, who was also felicitated with Padma Shri Award for his elite service in the field of horticulture, was cheated by unknown persons who did shopping through his credit card after stealing his personal information, the police said on Saturday. The accused persons used his credit card to do shopping on Flipkart and to pay their Vodafone bill. The victim, Dr K.L. Chadha, who is still serving for the nation as a scientist, has lodged a case in this respect with South Delhi’s Vasant Kunj (North) police station.

Dr Chadha was holding a credit card of SBI. In April 2016, he was issued a new platinum SBI credit card by the bank in place of his old credit card. He was asked to make a fresh transaction with the new card to activate it.

“Dr Chadha activated his card by making a transaction, but he was not given any bills for two months. He was too surprised. In July, he got a call from the bank that his bill of two months was pending. He told the bank officials that he did not get any bill for two months from the bank’s side and asked them to send the bills. Chadha was surprised to see that someone had done shopping using his credit card. The accused had shopped on Flipkart and paid a Vodafone bill,” a police source said.

Speaking to this newspaper, Dr Chadha said that bank officials told him that the accused persons had changed his mobile number and he did not have any idea about it. “I had got a call from the bank after making the first transaction with my new card. They asked me about my transaction and card details, they then disconnected the phone. Now, I realize that they were cheats. They then changed my number, I don’t know how, and did some shopping,” the victim said.

The police said that they have lodged a case under Sections 420 (cheating) of the IPC.