Mumbai diamond trader duped of ₹1.29 lakh in commonplace KYC update fraud
The incident used the familiar modus operandi of conning the diamond trader in the guise of updating the Know-Your-Customer (KYC) details of his e-wallet account
A diamond trader (63) from south Mumbai lost ₹129,428 lakh after a fraudster posing as a bank employee duped him.
The incident, which had occurred in end-July, used the familiar modus operandi of conning the diamond trader in the guise of updating the Know-Your-Customer (KYC) details of his e-wallet account.
Also read: Five men arrested for duping over 100 people of ₹1 crore on pretext of offering jobs
The complainant, Amit Navindchandra Zaveri, a resident of Babulnath in south Mumbai, had received a message on his mobile phone on July 27, asking him to update the KYC details of his e-wallet account.
The message also included a mobile phone number that he could contact for further details.
Zaveri called on the mobile number, which was mentioned in the message, at around 10.30 am on July 27.
A man, who claimed to be the representative of the e-wallet company, answered the phone.
The man discouraged Zaveri from visiting the e-wallet’s office to update his KYC details and insisted that he could it online because of the raging coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak.
Soon, the cyber fraudster sent a link to Zaveri and asked him to fill his credit card details.
Later, he asked Zaveri to open the e-wallet account from his mobile phone and punch in any number between one and nine.
Zaveri followed the process, while the fraudster made five transactions from his credit card and withdrew ₹34,131, ₹25,099, ₹40,099, ₹25,099, and ₹5,000 within a few seconds.
An alert bank employee, who noticed the five suspicious transactions from Zaveri’s credit card, contacted the diamond trader and asked him about the transactions.
Zaveri denied making any transaction.
This led the bank employee to block Zaveri’s credit card, said an official from Gamdevi police station.
Zaveri received the details of the bank transactions of ₹1,29,428 lakh a week later.
He filed a complaint with Gamdevi police station after the bank authorities were unwilling to redress his grievances about the fraudulent transactions.
A case under section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code and also under relevant sections of the Information Technology Act, 2000, has been filed at the police station.
The police are probing into the commonplace fraud.
