Chandigarh: Hotel owner duped of ₹9.9 lakh in KYC update fraud

The victim, who lives in Sector 21, Chandigarh, was contacted by a person, claiming to be an HDFC employee, who told him that the KYC for his account was not updated and sent him a link to do the needful

Online fraudsters duped a city-based hotelier of ₹9.99 lakh after getting his bank details on the pretext of a KYC update.

The hotel owner said as he clicked on the KYC link, he received three OTPs and later realised that ₹9.99 lakh were withdrawn from his bank account through three transactions. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The victim, Hira Lal Mahajan, owns a hotel in Industrial Area, Phase 2, and lives in Sector 21.

In his complaint, Mahajan told the police that he had received a phone call from a man claiming to be an employee of HDFC Bank, where he held an account. The caller told him that the KYC for his account was not updated and sent him a link to do the needful in this regard on December 28.

Mahajan said as he clicked on the link, he received three OTPs and later realised that ₹9.99 lakh were withdrawn from his bank account through three transactions. A case under Sections 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code was registered on his complaint.

In another case in Panchkula, Lalit Mohan of Sector 10 lost ₹35,855 through a fraudulent credit card transaction.

Mohan complained to the police that the amount was debited for a transaction on a website on January 25, even though he made no such purchase. On the basis of his complaint, a case under Sections 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 420 was registered at the Sector 5 police station in Panchkula.