Virar: Man loses nearly Rs 50k in bid to recharge set-top-box

A 52-year-old man working as a clerk at the GPO at CST had received a phone call from a person who on the pretext of getting his set-top box recharged, sent him a phishing link and induced the victim to click the link after which the victim's phone got hacked and money was siphoned from his bank account.

According to the Arnala police, the complainant is a resident of Virar. On September 12, the victim had received a phone call from an unknown person who informed the victim that the name of the set-top-box company, the services of which were being used by the victim had got changed.

The fraudster asked the victim to make a recharge of Rs 100 for his set-top box and sent a link to the victim via a text message. As soon as the victim clicked the link and paid Rs 100, immediately he received another text message of Rs 49,600 being debited from his account.

The victim then made enquiries with his bank and learnt that the money had been diverted to the e-wallet of a Noida-based person identified only as Abrar and in the accounts of two other fraudsters identified as Amit and Finin. The victim then approached the police and got a complaint lodged in the matter on Saturday.

The police have registered a case against three unidentified suspects under sections 419 (cheating by personation) and 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the Indian Penal Code and sections 66C (identity theft) and 66D (cheating by personation by using computer resource) of the Information Technology Act.

Published on: Tuesday, October 04, 2022, 11:21 PM IST