Another senior citizen duped of ₹23 lakh by fake telecom dept official

Mumbai: In another case of a senior citizen falling prey to cybercriminals, a 71-year-old doctor lost ₹23 lakh to a caller who posed as an official from the Department of Telecom (DoT) scaring him that his mobile number was linked to several criminal activities

Mumbai: In another case of a senior citizen falling prey to cybercriminals, a 71-year-old doctor lost ₹23 lakh to a caller who posed as an official from the Department of Telecom (DoT) scaring him that his mobile number was linked to several criminal activities.

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According to cyber police officials, the incident occurred in June this year. The fraud told the victim that there was an FIR registered against him in a money laundering and drug trafficking case and he needed to urgently speak with a CBI officer.

“The victim then received another call from a fraud who posed as a CBI officer. The officer shared a list of prominent names of Mumbai police officials on the victim’s WhatsApp number to instil fear in him. The fraud had also put up a fake DP of a CBI officer in uniform on the messaging app to appear authentic. He then threatened the doctor of booking him in several criminal cases and only a lump sum of money could save him,” said a cyber police official.

The victim, who works as a consultant at a prominent hospital in central Mumbai, got scared and transferred ₹23 lakh to the fraud’s bank account and later realised that he was duped. Based on his complaint, the cyber police officials registered an FIR on August 2 against unknown persons for cheating, forgery, and extortion of the IPC and IT Act.

In March this year, the Department of Telecom issued an advisory for citizens cautioning them of such fake calls being made by frauds appearing as DoT officials to steal personal information of individuals and carry out financial frauds.