E-Paper
Senior citizen duped of ₹5.54 lakh in online fraud
A retired Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) engineer was cheated of ₹5.54 lakh in online fraud.
A retired Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) engineer was cheated of ₹5.54 lakh in online fraud.
The complainant T Venkateshwar Rao, 63, downloaded a popular money transfer application last week after his grocery and milk delivery persons suggested that he avoid using cash. A few hours after he downloaded the application, Rao received a call from a person who posed as a customer care executive and identified himself as RK Sharma.
“On the pretext of helping the senior citizen set up an account, the fraudster tricked Rao into giving his debit card details, including the CVV number. Within the next few minutes, the accused siphoned off ₹2.46 lakh from his account,” said an officer from Taloja police station.
When Rao told him that he had lost money, the ‘executive’ asked him to use an Android phone and claimed that the money was debited due to technical issues. The conman then guided him to download a remote-control support application.
Rao then lost another ₹3 lakh in three transactions and ₹8,500 from another bank account. Collectively, the senior citizen was cheated of ₹5.54 lakh, said police.
The Taloja police have registered a case of cheating against the accused who claimed to be Sharma.
Rao told the police that during the call, he also received a message that his money was transferred into another account with the name of ‘Aadharsheela’. The local police have also taken assistance from the cyber cell of the Navi Mumbai crime branch for leads in the investigation.
