E-Paper
Kamothe woman loses ₹1.05 lakh to an online fraud
The Kamothe police on Wednesday booked an unknown person for duping a woman of ₹1.05 lakh in an online fraud. The woman was trying to courier a power bank to her
The Kamothe police on Wednesday booked an unknown person for duping a woman of ₹1.05 lakh in an online fraud. The woman was trying to courier a power bank to her village in Satara, affected by frequent power cuts. The man posing as courier agency employee asked her to transfer ₹5 to his account, after which, she lost ₹5,000 and then eventually another ₹1 lakh in five transactions.
According to police, the complainant, Priyanka Khatal,28, works as a technical associate with a dairy firm in Sanpada. Khatal, who is originally from Satara, wanted to send a mobile phone charging power bank to her family in Satara. However, when lockdown was imposed due to coronavirus outbreak, Khatal could not send the power bank. She recently resorted to a courier delivery.
“On June 2, Khatal searched for a courier service online and found a number which was listed as a courier service. An executive told her that it would 36 hours for her parcel to reach Satara, but prior she needs to make a registration. The man then sent her a link which led her to an online form where she filled in her details including payment methods,” said an officer from Kamothe police station.
Khatal was also instructed by the ‘courier agency’ to pay ₹5 as a token amount. Post that, ₹5,000 were debited from her account. She told the ‘employee’ about the deduction, who promised her the money would be refunded.
However, a day later, on June 3, she received multiple messages that ₹1 lakh was withdrawn from her bank account in five different transactions. Police suspect the accused managed to procure her UPI pin to steal money from her account.
When Khatal called the same number, the man denied any involvement and later ignored her calls, she told the police in her complaint.
The Kamothe police have booked an unknown person under relevant sections of Indian Penal Code and Information Technology Act.
