Navi Mumbai, Jan 05: A 59-year-old woman from New Panvel lost over Rs 11 lakh after cyber fraudsters posed as a refrigerator company’s customer care executives and hacked her mobile phone, police said.
The fraud came to light after the woman searched Google for a service centre number to repair her fridge and unknowingly contacted a fake customer care helpline, resulting in unauthorised withdrawals from three of her bank accounts.
Fraud began with faulty refrigerator complaint
According to police, the incident occurred on December 20 when the woman’s Haier refrigerator developed a fault at her residence. While searching online for the company’s customer care number, she came across a number uploaded by cybercriminals.
When she called the number, a man introduced himself as Ram Shankar Patil and claimed to be calling from a customer care centre based in Noida.
Victim asked to download APK file
The caller asked her to register a service complaint by opening an APK file sent on WhatsApp under the name ‘Customer Care Support’ and requested a nominal payment of Rs 10 via Google Pay, citing a new company policy. As soon as she attempted the payment, her mobile phone screen went blank, which she thought was due to battery drainage.
Rs 11.05 lakh siphoned from three accounts
Later that night, the woman received bank alerts showing that Rs 3.69 lakh had been debited from one of her accounts. Further verification revealed that Rs 25,000 had been withdrawn from her second account and Rs 6.23 lakh from her third account, taking the total loss to Rs 11.05 lakh.
Complaint lodged, police begin probe
Realising she had been cheated, the woman contacted the cyber helpline number 1930 and later approached Khandeshwar police station to lodge a complaint.
Based on her complaint, police registered a case against unknown persons under sections of cheating and the Information Technology Act and launched an investigation into the fake customer care racket.
Police issue advisory to citizens
“Fraudsters are uploading fake customer care numbers on search engines and convincing victims to download APK files, which allows them remote access to mobile phones and bank applications. Citizens must never download unknown apps or click on suspicious links,” a senior police officer said.
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Public urged to verify service numbers
Police have appealed to citizens to verify customer care numbers only from official company websites and to immediately report any suspected cyber fraud to the cyber helpline or the nearest police station.
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