Revathi, working for an 85-year-old auditor Ayyavu in R.S. Puram, used the trust of the auditor who gave her the phone for entering OTP messages to swindle over 26 lakhs in small instalments.
Coimbatore: Auditor Ayyavu (85), runs a popular chartered account firm in RS Puram area of Coimbatore. He has six daughters.
In 2018, he hired a woman named Revathi who came to him seeking a job. Ayyavu, who gave her a job as a clerk, paid Revathi Rs.10,000 per month. He raised her salary subsequently to Rs.17,500. Later, he trained Revathi on accounting jobs in the office, collecting money from customers and following payments.
Hospitalisation for coronavirus; Employee allowed to make cash transactions
In 2020, Ayyavu and his family had tested positive for covid-19 and were admitted to a private hospital for treatment. Since he was unable to look after the office work properly, she was given additional charge and asked to look into the bank transactions.
Revathi has been engaged in paying electricity bills, making cash transactions to a farm owned by Ayyavu, and depositing customers' money in the bank. Ayyavu's daughters also trusted Revathi and allowed her to exchange money.
The message that alerted the family
A few days ago, Ayyavu's mobile phone received an SMS that "Rs 25,000 has been transferred from Ayyavu account to Revathi's account," the sms said.
When one of Ayyavu's daughter saw this, they realised that something was wrong. At this stage, they tried to find out if there was any other money transaction to Revathi's bank account. It was then that Revathi's cheating and swindling was exposed.
Rs.26,40,000 swindled
Following this, Ayyavu thoroughly examined the bank account and office balance sheets of the last two years. From February 2021 to September 2022, it was found that the money was transferred from his bank account illegally without obtaining his permission.
He was shocked to learn that Revathi had stolen Rs.17.67 lakh from his account alone.
Similarly, it came to light that Revathi had swindled a total of Rs.26.4 lakh, including Rs.60,000 collected from the office, Rs.2,50,000 from Ayyavu's daughters and Rs.2,25,000 from customers.
Revathi got Ayyavu's mobile phone in the guise of paying the electricity bill and transferred the money to her bank account through the bank app on it. Revathi had mentioned in the company account books that the money was transferred was noted down in the office book as one for paying plantation works and other expenses belonging to Ayyavu.
Robbery in an installment mode..!
Revathi used to transfer small amounts of Rs.15,000, Rs.25,000 and Rs.50,000 to her bank account from time to time as she would be caught if she transferred the money in bulk.
Moreover, Revathi, who used to delete the money-transferred message and OTP messages from time to time so that others wouldn't see them, but she forgot to delete the OTP message from the Trash folder even after deleting them. This helped in nabbing her about the fraud she has been committing.
A family crime
It is even more shocking that Revathi's family has also been supportive of her fraud activity. A certain amount has also been transferred to the bank account of Revathi's husband Dinesh.
Not only Revathi, but her husband Dinesh and some family members are also said to have helped in the entire conspiracy.
A complaint at the police station
Ayyavu had lodged a complaint with the R S Puram police station seeking appropriate action against Revathi, who had betrayed the trust and looted lakhs of rupees after they trusted her like a family member and entrusted her various responsibilities with confidence.
Based on an order issued by Commissioner of Police Balakrishnan, a police team led by Inspector Parimala Devi and Sub-Inspector Nagaraj arrested Revathi and her husband Dinesh, who were absconding.
Revathi and her family had allegedly used the looted money for luxury expenses and to buy jewellery.
There is no doubt that the incident in which auditor Ayyavu's old age and his employee robbed lakhs of rupees by misusing his the trust he had on her will be a lesson for many.
The OTP from our banks, the secret numbers of the bank app, should not be given to others. While the cyber crime police continue to create awareness that even if it is handed over to others when there is no other option but the finally check to allow the transaction should be with the account holders.
The cyber crime police continue to create awareness that the responsibility of checking and allowing the transaction should rest with us. This incident is a testimony to the fact that we have to be very careful with the people who speak kindly as they might be using that behaviour to swindle money or assets from us.