Mumbai: Cyber fraudsters pose as telecom executives, dupe customers of Rs 1.43 lakh

In the incident registered by Bandra police, the complainant is a 80-year-old man, officers said. According to the FIR, around 11.30 am on April 4, the senior citizen received a phone call from a man who posed as a Vodafone executive and said his SIM card would be blocked in 24 hours if he did not update his Know Your Customer (KYC) details.

The ‘executive’ asked him to download and install an application, which enables a third party to view all activities on one’s mobile phone, it said. The man then asked the elderly citizen to send Rs 10 as a processing fee; however, the complainant was unaware that the former could see his bank details as he typed them on his phone to send Rs 10, the FIR added. Soon after, the bank details were used to withdraw Rs 30,000, the complainant said.

As per the FIR, the fraudster then told the complainant that the transaction had failed and asked him to pay Rs 10 from another debit card. The complainant used his second debit card to pay Rs 10 again and the fraudster used the same method to transfer another Rs 67,000 from him, it said.

In the second case, a 56-year-old man from Chembur received a message on his phone on April 2, allegedly by a person who claimed to be a Vodafone executive and said his wife’s mobile number will be deactivated if the KYC details are not updated, the FIR said.

The next day his wife’s number got deactivated following which the man contacted the number only to be asked to install a mobile application (similar to the one used in the Bandra case), the complainant said. Using the same modus operandi, the fraudster siphoned off Rs 46,684 from the man’s bank account, the complaint indicated. Later, on realising that he had been cheated, the man called his bank and subsequently approached the police.