Wife of district judge loses about ₹1 lakh to cyber fraud

The complainant, who resides in Marine Drive, informed the police that on Friday, she received an SMS from a mobile number stating that the electricity supply to her house would be disconnected

Mumbai A 53-year-old wife of a district judge lost around ₹1 lakh to an electricity bill cyber fraud.

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The complainant, who resides in Marine Drive, informed the police that on Friday, she received an SMS from a mobile number stating that the electricity supply to her house would be disconnected owing to the non-payment of bills. The SMS also mentioned a mobile number as a contact for further queries.

When the complainant called on the given number, the person who received the call identified himself as an officer from the electricity department. The woman informed him that their electricity bills were paid on time. However, he told her that their system was showing pending payment and it would lead to disconnection of services if she failed to resolve it.

The man further told her that he could guide her over the phone if she wants the matter to be resolved. After the woman agreed, the accused asked her to download three apps (Mahavitaran, Quick Support and SMS to Phone). She downloaded the apps and following his instructions, clicked on a link sent to her and furnished all her customer details, including her banking details, on the online form generated via the link, the police complaint stated.

While she was on the phone with the accused, she received SMS alerts of three money transfers. When she checked the messages, she was shocked to discover that ₹99,500 was deducted from her account without her knowledge.

On contacting her bank, she discovered that the money had been fraudulently transferred to a Paytm wallet. She then got her account blocked and approached the Marine Drive police station to report the fraud.

A police officer said that the accused made the complainant download apps which gave them remote access to her mobile phone, who also got her SMSes diverted to them to read the One-Time Passwords.

“The complainant was unaware of this and was tricked into downloading these apps and giving all information for carrying out unauthorised transactions,” said another police officer.

The police are in the process of writing to the Paytm service provider to get the details of the beneficiary e-wallet holder. The number from which the complainant had first received the SMS has been reported as spam by 38 people on TrueCaller till Monday.