An assistant officer employed with the Indian Navy and posted at INS Angre was duped to the tune of ₹1.56 lakh in the KYC update fraud. The accused trapped the naval officer on the pretext of updating the PayTM KYC, failing which the account will be blocked, after which the officer fell prey to the con. The accused sent a screen sharing link, getting access of the phone and siphoned ₹1.56 lakh in a series of six transactions within 30 minutes. A case has been lodged at Cuffe Parade police station and the probe is underway, said police.
According to police, on July 15, the 52-year-old complainant had received a message from an unknown number which read that, "Dear customer your paytm KYC Has been expired today please call customer care no. 9832022524 immediately your Paytm Account blocked within 24 hrs. Thank You". While the complainant panicked and tried to contact the number mentioned in the message, the call was not answered. An hour later, he received a call from a man, who introduced himself as a PayTM customer care agent and informed that the navy officer's account could be suspended if the KYC was not updated.
The agent then sent a link to update the KYC, asking the navyman to click on it and share an OTP to authenticate the KYC. Unknowingly, after sharing the OTP, the navyman gave remote access of his phone to the accused, following which the complainant was asked to go in the PayTM app and enter his account details. Within a matter of 30 minutes, the navyman lost ₹1.56 lakh.
Realising that he has been duped, the complainant approached Cuffe Parade police station and lodged a complaint. While the unknown accused has been booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and Information Technology Act, police are yet to trace him and make arrests.
