Conman poses as army officer, dupes psychiatrist couple of ₹90K

A psychiatrist couple in Mumbai was duped of ₹90,000 by a conman posing as an army officer who asked for their counseling services for students at an Army school. The fraudster shared a QR code and diverted the money from their account. The police have registered a case.

MUMBAI: A psychiatrist couple from Santacruz was duped of ₹90,000 by a conman who posed as an army officer and asked them to provide their services for the students at Army school. They were told to pay a small fee for this, after which the frauds shared a QR code and diverted ₹90,000 from their account using their banking details.

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On October 27, Dr Harish and Dr Prachi Bedekar, who regularly counsel school children, received a WhatsApp message from a man who wanted them to take a counselling session with the students at Satish Army School in Churchgate, said police sources,

They also spoke to the sender and a school representative who identified himself as Satish Kumar, an army personnel.

“During the phone call, they reached a deal where they would charge ₹50,000 fee to the school. After this, claiming that the army had its own protocol for making payments,” said a police officer from Santacruz police.

When the callers started explaining to the couple the process to get the payment from the army, it seemed very complicated, so they asked for help. The callers then sent them a link and told them to connect on a video call afterwards. “The callers got on a video call with the doctor couple and asked them to open their Paytm app,” said the police officer. Shortly after this video call, the complainant was notified of the transaction which showed that a transfer of ₹90,000 had been initiated.

The police suspect that the caller scanned their QR code over the video call and was able to make unauthorised transactions from their accounts.

The unknown accused has been booked under section 420 (cheating and dishonesty) of the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the Information Technology Act, 2000.