An 80-year-old south Mumbai doctor lost ₹3 lakh to an unknown person in a Know-Your-Customer (KYC) fraud. The unidentified accused, who posed as a bank employee, lured the octogenarian to update his KYC details and had him download a screen sharing app to gain access to his mobile. A case has been lodged at Cuffe Parade police station and investigation is underway.
The police said the incident took place on November 8, when the complainant received a message from an unknown number that read, ‘Dear customer, Your PAYTM KYC has expired. Your PAYTM will be blocked within 24 Hrs. Please contact PAYTM OFFICE’ followed by a phone number. Fearing his account will be blocked, the man immediately contacted the number, wherein the receiver said he will call back.
When the fraudster called back, he asked the complainant to download the PayTM application and Any Desk application from Google Playstore. The man followed the instructions and inserted his PAN and Aadhaar card details in the app, which was accessible to the fraudster as well after he asked the senior to share the OTP from the screen sharing app.
The man asked the octogenarian to wire ₹1 to authenticate the account, followed by a similar procedure from another credit card. A few hours later he received a message that his credit card application was closed, following which he approached the bank and learnt that there were 14 transactions made from his account to the tune of ₹2,99,067.
The doctor then approached Cuffe Parade police station and lodged a complaint, following which the unknown accused was booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Information Technology Act for cheating and impersonation.
