A 59-year-old Khar resident was duped of ₹65,322, after he fell prey to the Google listing fraud while placing an order for pizza. The complainant, a businessman, lost the money in a series of four transactions by downloading a screen sharing mobile application. While the unidentified accused has been booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and Information Technology Act, Khar Police are investigating the matter and are yet to make any arrests.
According to Khar Police sources, the incident occurred on July 12, when the businessman wanted to order a pizza from a pizzeria and was looking up the hotel's phone number on a search engine. Upon finding the pizzeria's number, businessman contacted and was informed that another number will get in touch with him for the order.
Subsequently, the businessman received a call from another number, which took his order and asked him to download a screen sharing application to complete the payment. Soon after downloading the app, the businessman shared an OTP and inserted his bank credentials, which were also seen by the fraudsters. While on call, the businessman received a text message of ₹20,999 being debited from his account. Upon enquiring with the caller, the latter claimed that it was a mistransaction and asked him to share the OTP only to lose ₹20,999 twice more and then ₹5,000.
After realising that he was being duped, the businessman stopped sharing the OTP and received a call from the bank, enquiring if he was making these financial debits, to which he refused and stopped making payments. The businessman then approached Khar Police and lodged a complaint, acting on which a First Information Report was registered and the unidentified accused was booked under relevant sections of the IPC and IT Act.
