A 33-year-old man lost ₹4.74 lakh after a fraudster posing as an official from a bank sent him a malicious link on Whatsapp.
On September 5, the victim Liander Almeda, 33, a resident of Andheri East received a call from an unknown number and the caller identified himself as an official of Axis Bank requesting Almeda to provide PAN card details for the updation of his account.
He refused to provide the same and disconnected the call. Shortly, Almeda received a link on WhatsApp from the same number and the fraudster told him to download the app, for which the link was sent, as the app also displayed the bank logo.
App download proves costly
Almeda attempted to download the app but encountered an error. He received a message indicating that he had applied for a loan after he provided a code to the scammer which Almeda received on his number. Soon, the fraudster took control of Almeda’s phone and disconnected the call.
Within no time, Almeda received a notification that his account had been credited with ₹4.68 lakh. He called back on the number and he was informed that the automatic amount debit process would follow for the recovery and he lost ₹6,293 extra when money was deducted.
On September 7, Almeda visited Axis Bank, where he was informed that he had taken a ₹4.68 lakh loan through a mobile app. Realising that he had been cheated, he lodged a case at Sahar police station on September 9 under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code.
