Mumbai: A renowned dietitian recently lost ₹3.30 lakh after cybercrooks posed as officials from the Indian Army and duped the healthcare professional.
According to the Kalachowki police, a first information report (FIR) was registered on Saturday after the complainant, Dr Rahul Baxi, of the Bombay Hospital, approached cops. According to him, his wife, Ujjwala Baxi, a registered dietitian and nutritionist, received a call on November 2. The caller introduced himself as Parmeel Kumar, an official of the Indian Army. Kumar told Ujjwala that he needed food or a diet plan for 25 people and said that his senior would contact her shortly.
On the same day, Kumar called her again, enquiring about the fees and Ujjwala informed that the cost would be ₹75,000 for a three-month plan.
The next day, the dietitian received a call again and was asked to join a video call to discuss the plan with Kumar’s senior, a major. They made her install PayTM, Phone Pay, Google Pay and another app enabling the crooks to take control of her screen. She was also asked to take some details from the app and assured her that she would get the money, said Dr Baxi in his statement to the police.
Minutes later, Ujjwala received five text messages from her bank informing ₹75,000, 75,000, 75,000, 75,000 and ₹30,000 was debited from her account.
