E-Paper
77-year-old duped of ₹4.98 lakh in fake SIR data fraud
A 77-year-old man in Wadgaon Budruk was scammed out of ₹4.98 lakh by a fraudster posing as an election official, via a phone and video call.
A 77-year-old citizen from Wadgaon Budruk was allegedly duped of ₹4.98 lakh after a fraudster posing as an election commission official claimed that there was a mismatch in his SIR data, police said on Wednesday.
According to a complaint lodged by the victim’s 46-year-old son, the fraud took place on August 2. Around 3.15pm, the victim received a voice call from an unknown person claiming to be from the Election Commission. The caller allegedly told him that there was a mismatch in his SIR data and that it needed to be corrected.
The caller allegedly sought information from the senior citizen to rectify the data. Shortly afterwards, the fraudster made a WhatsApp video call from another mobile number. The victim could not see the caller’s face during the call, according to the complaint.
The accused then allegedly sent the victim a link purportedly for voter re-verification and asked him to enter his full name and address. When the victim was unable to submit the details through the link, the accused allegedly sent him three APK files and instructed him to download them.
Vinay Patankar, senior inspector, Sinhgad Road police station, said the fraudster then asked the victim to open one of the files and pay ₹5 to update his data. The victim attempted to make the payment using his credit card and internet banking, but the transaction did not go through.
“Soon afterwards, the victim received bank transaction alerts showing that money had been debited from his account in three transactions,” Patankar said.
According to the complaint, the three fraudulent transactions amounted to ₹1,50,003, ₹1,99,002 and ₹1,49,003.
The victim alerted his son, who took possession of his mobile phone and contacted the customer care services of both banks. The accounts were subsequently blocked. The son also reported the incident on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal.
Police are investigating the mobile numbers used to contact the victim, the WhatsApp account, the APK files and the link sent to him, as well as the bank accounts into which the money was allegedly transferred.
