Mumbai Cyber Safe: Retired All India Radio officer loses ₹8 lakh while ordering towels online

A 70-year-old woman from Mira Road lost more than ₹8.29 lakh to an online fraud while ordering a set of towels worth ₹1,169 on the platform of an e-marketplace. In her complaint, the senior citizen who retired as a programme officer from All India Radio (AIR), the national public radio broadcaster of India in 2014, ordered a set of six towels on the e-marketplace.

Fraud posed as customer care representative

The senior citizen made a payment of ₹1,1169 from her digital wallet to the payment service provider authorized by the online merchant. Initially, ₹19,005 got deducted from her savings account, following which the senior citizen registered a complaint with the bank. A few hours later she received a call from a person who identified himself as the representative of the bank and offered help to get a refund. Under the guise of completing the refund process, the senior citizen was induced to download a remote access app on her phone. The complainant complied and was shocked to learn that ₹8,20,00 had been fraudulently siphoned off from her account in three different banks.

Offense registered under Information Technology Act 2000

After the installation of the application, the cyber-crooks had apparently gained access to crucial banking information stored in the mobile phone. Based on the complaint registered by the senior citizen, an offense was registered under the relevant sections of the IPC and Information Technology Act, 2000 against the unidentified cyber-criminal at the Kashimira police station. Further investigations were underway.