Mumbai cyber safe: Thane man trying to cancel overseas air tickets duped of ₹4.8 lakh

Thane: A man from the Manpada area in Thane city lost around Rs 4.8 lakh in a cyber fraud after he relied on the results of a Google search to seek refunds for his cancelled trip to an African nation, said a police officer from Chitalsar police station on Wednesday.

An inspector from Chitalsar police station said, "The complainant working with a reputed company in Navi Mumbai is a resident of Manpada in Thane and had booked return tickets to the Kenya capital Nairobi as he and his friend wanted to visit the city of Mombasa. The tickets were booked for April 29 and May 5 and he paid Rs 1.46 lakh for them.

Duped with the help of an app

The officer further added, "The complainant's plans changed and he decided to cancel the tickets and seek refunds, said the official. He filled out a form for a refund on the website of the airline on April 11. When the complainant could not get through to the airline's helpline, he ran a Google search and got what he thought to be the contact number of the airline. He dialled the number and was told that the airline's technical team would get in touch with him and facilitate the refund."

"A man then spoke to the complainant and said he was eligible for a refund of Rs 1.28 lakh. He asked the complainant to download an app, got complete access to his phone and withdrew Rs 4.8 lakh from his accounts and credit card" said a police officer.

The officer said, "Based on the man's complaint we have registered a case under the IT Act. We are further investigating the case. As of now, no arrest has been made."

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