ALAPPUZHA: A complaint has been filed with the National Cyber Cell that about Rs 1 lakh was extorted in the name of online service related to passport. Manju Binu, an assistant professor at Amrita Nursing College, Ernakulam, allegedly lost the money.

On August 26, Manju applied on an online portal to correct the name in the passport. The documents were verified at the passport service center in Alappuzha within two days. Manju received a phone call at 11 am on September 2nd, asking for a service charge of Rs 10 to send the passport through courier. A link was given for this. Then Rs.10 was sent from the SBI Kalarcode branch account in the name of Manju.

After sending the new format within a short time it was filled and sent along with the UPI number as requested. At 11.30 pm on the 4th, a fake phone message came from SBI asking if Rs 90,700 had been withdrawn from the account. Suspicious, Manju's husband contacted the bank and learned that no one called from there. After checking the account, they realized that the amount was missing. It was found that the money went to ICICI Bank. It was learned that the money was withdrawn from the ATM of ICICI Bank in Basoneshwar Nagar, Bangalore.