FPJ Cyber Secure: Mumbai Man Defrauded Of ₹1,47,000 In Credit Card OTP Scam

A junior engineer associated with the BMC’s water department fell victim to cyber scammers who, posing as officials, duped him of Rs1.47 lakh under the pretence of facilitating credit card activation.

The victim, Vikram Pawar, 31, who resides in Ghatkopar at the civic body’s staff quarter. He had recently received a credit card, which was not activated and for the same Pawar visited the bank’s Ghatkopar branch and informed him that they would contact him soon.

Receives fake call over credit card

On September 9, Pawar received a call from the credit card department. They suggested him to call on a given number for the card activation. As he called, he was asked to share the one-time password (OTP), and Pawar, who believed it was from his bank, shared the OTP.

Within seconds, Pawar received two messages from his bank informing him about the two transactions of Rs 99,000 and Rs 48,000. He later asked the person on call about the transactions, who assured Pawar that it would be refunded, and said it was “part of the process”.

Pawar complaints to bank

Shortly after, Pawar received a subsequent call purporting to be from the bank’s helpline, inquiring about the recent transaction. Denying any such transaction, Pawar was informed by the caller that his card would be blocked. Subsequently, Pawar reached out to his bank through email, where he was informed that an investigation into the matter would take a minimum of 90 days. However, as of now, he has not received any further updates, as stated in his police statement.

On Friday, Pawar approached the police and registered a case against unknown persons. The police have initiated a probe into the matter.