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Looking for holiday stay, woman loses ₹3 lakh to cyber fraud
The victim, who is a resident of the Kesnand Road area in Wagholi, filed a complaint at the Lonikand police station against the accused
A young woman’s plan for the Christmas holidays in Mahabaleshwar turned into a financial nightmare as cyber thieves targeted her during an online hotel booking transaction and siphoned off ₹3.05 lakh from her account.
The victim, who is a resident of the Kesnand Road area in Wagholi, filed a complaint at the Lonikand police station against the accused.
According to the FIR, the victim had planned a trip to Mahabaleshwar and decided to book a hotel room online for the upcoming Christmas holiday. While searching for suitable accommodation, the victim finalised her stay at The Keys Hotel. Her holiday plan turned into harassment when the cyber thieves reached out to her mobile number, posing as hotel staff.
On the pretext of assisting with the booking, the accused gulled the victim into sharing her confidential bank account information.
The woman later found that a sizable chunk of her savings had been fraudulently withdrawn from her account and she promptly alerted the local police station and lodged an FIR.
The police meanwhile have invoked IPC sections 420 and 419 including section 66 D of the Information Technology (IT) Act against the accused who had called from his mobile number and his associates. The money was siphoned off from the bank account by various transactions, investigators said.
