More than a year after his flight to New Delhi was cancelled due to the pandemic, a 51-year-old person from Mira Road was duped of more than Rs 4.64 lakh while he was attempting to claim a refund for the flight ticket. An offence under section 420 (cheating) of Indian Penal Code along with sections 66(c) and 66(d) of the Information Technology Act was registered against unidentified cyber-crooks at the Kashimira police station, this week. In his statement to the police, the complainant said he was scheduled to fly to New Delhi in April, 2020, however the flight was cancelled due to the nationwide lockdown.
After several unsuccessful attempts to get a refund from the airlines and the online travel booking portal which he had used to book the ticket, the complainant recently received a phone call from a person who identified himself as an executive of the travel portal. Under the guise of sorting out the refund issue, the caller first sought copies of bank statements to verify the payments made to book the tickets and later not only convinced the complainant to download an application on his phone, but also made him add his debit card details.
The complainant complied but failed to get a refund and disconnected the call. But, the damage had been done and the telephonic encounter ended with him losing Rs. 4,64,980 which was siphoned-off from his bank accounts via eight fraudulent withdrawals. The cyber-crook had apparently gained access to his smartphone on the virtue of the downloaded application. The Kashimira police are conducting further investigations into the case.
