60-year-old Mumbai man told he won cruise trip, cheated of ₹90K

According to the complainant, on March 15, he received a call from a woman posing as a travel company executive. She informed him that he had won an all-expense paid holiday on a cruise ship and would have to pay ₹100 as registration fees.

The police recently registered a first information report (FIR) against an unidentified person for allegedly cheating a 60-year-old Bandra resident of ₹90,000 by luring him with a free cruise trip.

The police recently registered a first information report (FIR) against an unidentified person for allegedly cheating a 60-year-old Bandra resident of ₹90,000 by luring him with a free cruise trip. (File Photo)

The complainant, who is a retired government bank official, approached the police on March 30. The accused used a combination of vishing and phishing to withdraw the amount from the complainant’s account in 10 transactions, said police.

According to the complainant, on March 15, he received a call from a woman posing as a travel company executive. She informed him that he had won an all-expense paid holiday on a cruise ship and would have to pay ₹100 as registration fees.

The complainant was sent a link to a website – ezmoneysend.in – and asked to make the payment. He was then directed to a net banking window. He entered his bank account details and the one time password (OTP), but received a message saying the payment had failed.

Later the same day, at 1.30am, the complainant noticed that ₹90,000 had been withdrawn from his account. He also noticed that his net banking password had been changed.