A south Mumbai septuagenarian housewife was duped to the tune of Rs 4.7 lakh on two consecutive days by the same accused on the pretext of updating her KYC details of an e-wallet. The accused asked her to download an application. Police suspect that the victim was asked to download the application to insert her bank details and later shared her OTPs only to lose the amount. The accused has been booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and Information Technology Act.
On August 28, a 70-year-old housewife, who stays with her husband in a highrise at Mount Pleasant Road, Malabar Hill, received a call from a man, who introduced himself as Amit Kumar, an executive of PayTM e-wallet. Kumar told her that he was calling pertaining to the pending KYC formalities of her account linked to a nationalised bank.
Kumar told the septuagenarian that she could update the KYC from home. He asked her to download an application and then fill out the details -- name, bank account number, debit card number and the CVV number. "I downloaded and did the needful. To my surprise, between noon and 4pm on the same day, I received OTPs, which I shared with Kumar and then messages from the bank intimating me about transactions worth Rs 2.7 lakh," said the senior in her complaint.
When the woman enquired with Kumar about the money being debited, he said that it was a mistake and that he will look into the matter. On August 29, he enquired if she received a reversal of the money, to which the senior declined. On the pretext of helping her, he asked for OTPs again and duped her of an additional Rs 2 lakh, taking the total to Rs 4.7 lakh.
After finding something amiss, the septuagenarian called her son and told him about the incident. Her son asked her to stop sharing the details and call Kumar. When the senior called, Kumar failed to produce satisfactory answers. It was then that she realised she was duped. The woman immediately approached her bank, following which she went to Malabar Hill Police and lodged a complaint against Kumar.
While Kumar has been booked under relevant sections, police suspect that he had used the screen sharing application to dupe the septuagenarian and sought her bank details.
