Mumbai: A 61-year-old retired pilot who wanted to spend holidays in Portugal became a victim of phishing fraud. The victim had surfed on the internet about hotel booking and came across a fraudulent number. The victim contacted the said number, but was unable to connect. Minutes later, he received a phone call from a person who enquired if the victim was looking for a hotel booking. The victim was then induced to share his bank account details on a bogus web link after which money got debited from his bank account.
According to the Bandra police, the complainant is a resident of Bandra and had retired as a pilot from a leading airline company in 2019. The victim wanted to go to Portugal on a holiday with his wife on October 26 and was surfing the internet about the hotel booking. On October 21, the victim came across a helpline number on the internet for hotel booking and contacted the said number that went unanswered.
After about 12 minutes, the victim received a phone call from an unknown person enquiring with the victim if he was looking for hotel booking. After the victim replied in positive, the fraudster shared a web link with the victim and asked him to share his bank account details on the same. As soon as the victim filled his bank account details on the web link, Rs 1.59 lakh in four different transactions, police said.
As soon as the money got debited from the victim's bank account, the fraudster disconnected the call. Having realised that he had been duped, the victim got his bank account blocked from the bank and later approached the police to get a complaint lodged in the matter. The police suspect that the web link led the fraudster to remote access the victim's phone and used the same to siphon the money.
The police have registered a case under sections 419 (cheating by personation) and 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the Indian Penal Code and sections 66C (identity theft) and 66D (cheating by personation by using computer resource) of the Information Technology Act.
