A south Mumbai-based businessman recently lost Rs 6.27 lakh while checking his bank balance. The businessman fell was searching for customer care number of his bank and fell prey to the search engine listing fraud. The number he found online was that of a fraudster who lured the businessman to share his banking details, including ATM pin. The Cuffe Parade police have registered an offence and begun the investigation.
Last week, Cuffe Parade resident A Kamble, who is into cement business, wanted to check his bank balance. He went online to search for his bank’s customer care. He asked the purported executive for the number which sends a bank balance alert after a missed call. However, as soon as Kamble asked for the number, the call got disconnected. Sometime later, he received a call from an unknown person who claimed to be the bank’s representative and asked Kamble to click on a link sent on his number.
Unaware that he was being trapped, Kamble clicked the link titled ‘complaintsregistersquery’ and filled all his details, including name, mobile number, ATM card number along with password. The fraudster then claimed that his number had been registered and he would receive a call within four hours.
Meanwhile, Kamble got busy with other commitments and his mobile battery also ran low. A couple of hours later, when he checked his transaction alerts, he was shocked to see withdrawal of Rs 6,27,900 from his account in multiples transactions. He immediately contacted the bank and blocked his account. He was asked by the bank to approach the police and file a complaint.
An officer from Cuffe Parade police station said a case has been registered under sections for cheating by personation (419), cheating (420) and common intention (34) of the Indian Penal Code, along with sections 66C (identity theft) and 66D (cheating by personation using computer resources) of the Information Technology Act. The police said they have asked the bank for the account details in which money was transferred and are also trying to locate the caller.