Mumbai Cyber Safe: Man loses ₹89,000 after clicking on malicious link

Mumbai: In yet another cyber fraud, the Gamdevi police have arrested two Jharkhand-based men who defrauded a Grant Road resident to the tune of ₹89,000 by sending him an unknown link via text message.

The incident happened on January 5, when the complainant was looking for lunch boxes options on the internet. He called on a number found on the internet, the caller told the complainant to register on their website, for which they will provide a link to his contact number. Along with registration, they asked him to pay ₹5, which they promised will be refunded back after registration.

Victim defrauded with malicious link

The complainant adhered to whatever was asked and accordingly downloaded the sent link to complete the ₹5 payment procedure. Minutes later, he received a message that read “your order is cancelled”. On January 7, he received another message from the same number with a link, and when he clicked on it, in the next few minutes he received several text messages from his bank informing him money being credited from his account summing a total of ₹89,000.

Accused from Jharkhand

The police, after receiving the complaint, started investigating the matter along with the cyber team. While the cyber team managed to track the accused by looking up to the account to which the money was transferred, and the mobile numbers from which they contacted the victim. The accused Nageshwar Malo Thakur, 29, and Santosh Kumar Bhaldev Mandal, 29, are residents of Dumka Jharkhand.

Mumbai police cautions citizens

According to Cyber Crime Cell under Crime Branch of Mumbai police, the most common form of online frauds are related to banks, online commerce platforms where fraudsters, posing as bank /platform officials, convince the victim to share OTP, KYC updates and sometimes send the links to be clicked to access bank accounts.“People should know that no bank or institution is authorised to demand for bank details or PIN numbers. Unfortunately, educated people are falling prey to online frauds and losing lakhs of rupees,” explained DCP Cyber Crime, Balsingh Rajput.