Mumbai: Woman doctor loses ₹ 95k in cyber fraud as she unknowingly dials fraudster while making inquiries for patient

Mumbai: A 55-year-old doctor on Monday lodged a complaint with the Vakola police, stating that she was browsing about a Pune-based hospital to make inquiries about the DEXA scan (bone density test) for a patient and came across a contact number.

Her call was answered by the fraudster who impersonated the hospital staff and asked her to visit a phishing link on the pretext of completing the booking process. In this manner, the con siphoned off Rs95,000 from her bank account.

According to the police, the complainant is a resident of Santa Cruz East. The fraud occurred on Jan 12 when the woman was at her home and unknowingly rang the fraudster. She then inquired about the charges of the scan and appointment schedule.

The fraudster then gave a booking number to the woman and told her to pay Rs5 on a link that he would be sharing with her. The text message from the bank that Rs95,000 has been debited from her account made the woman realise that she has been duped.

A case has been registered under sections 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the Indian Penal Code as well as provisions 66C (identity theft), 66D (cheating by personation by using computer resource) of the Information Technology Act.