Three minutes, 30 messages: How Mumbai man was duped of Rs1.45 lakh

The Mumbai man’s credit card was used for transactions on national and international portals

A 29-year-old man from Versova lost Rs1.45 lakh in a cyber fraud after his credit card was used for transactions on national and international portals.

Even after the man blocked his card, the accused kept withdrawing money from his account. (HT File)

Tahir Shaikh works in a private firm. He received the credit card from a public sector bank in April. He told the police that he had used the card only once when he paid fees online to an educational institute. He lost the money on August 21 and 22, said an official from the cyber police.

Between 6.10 am and 6.13 am on August, he received 30 SMSes informing him that Rs89,410 was withdrawn from his account.

He called the bank and got his card blocked. “We asked Shaikh to call the bank to get more details. The bank informed him that another Rs55,590 was withdrawn on August 21. But he did not receive any SMS on the transaction,” said the official.

Aftab Siddique, a relative of Shaikh, said, “The government needs to take measures to safeguard online transactions. There is no proper guidance for the public. There is a dire need to upgrade the cyber police, who are finding difficult to nab fraudsters.”