Mumbai: A police officer attached to Naupada police station in Thane went beyond his call of duty and helped a woman get back Rs 3.22 lakh that she had lost to a cyber fraud recently.
The 42-year-old consultant working for a life insurance firm found a suspicious transaction of Rs 7,900 from her account and check online to find the customer care number of her bank. After she called the number, a fraudster posing as the customer care executive of the bank asked her to download the ‘AnyDesk’ application. Once she downloaded the application, the fraudster swindled Rs 6.77 lakh from her account.
When she realised her mistake, she rushed to Rabodi police station. But while she was on her way to the police station she was stopped at a police checkpost near Nitin Company in Thane. Police sub-inspector Sura Jondhale who was there on duty questioned her and realised the urgency as he had already handled many such cases.
“I checked her transaction messages and realised that almost half of the money went to an e-commerce site. I immediately contacted their nodal officer and requested to halt further transaction. We then sent necessary details through email and managed to recover over Rs 3.22 lakh, " said Jondhale.
If the victim approaches the police within the first two hours of the fraud which is called the golden hour, there is always a chance to freeze the accounts, stop further transactions, and recovery as well, said police officials from Naupada police station.
Senior inspector of Naupada police station Anil Mangale said, "To help citizens is our priority and whether they are from our police station's jurisdiction or not is hardly matters."
