Airport-Navi Mumbai cab ride costs man Rs 5L

The complainant received a call from an unknown number hours after finding the fake number. Representation Pic

A taxi ride from the airport to Seawoods cost Sarfaraz Mehmood Arshad, the 49-year-old chief manager of a public sector bank, Rs 5 lakh. He was duped after calling a fake customer care number, which he found on Google, in order to obtain a refund of around R500 from the cab aggregator.

An FIR has been filed in the NRI Coastal police station in connection with the case.

Early on May 31, Arshad arrived at Mumbai airport from Bihar with his family.

He then booked an Ola cab and according to the app, the fare from his location to his Navi Mumbai residence was Rs 1,462.

"We reached our home around 2 am. The driver asked me to pay Rs 1,925 but the fare wasn't visible on the app. When I asked him how the fare got revised, he couldn't answer and said I should get call the Ola customer care number," Arshad told the police.

Arshad then found a number on Google, but when he dialled it, there was no response so he paid the driver the revised fare.

At 8.25 am, Arshad received a call from an unknown number and the person on the other end claimed to be a customer care executive. After he narrated the incident, the caller assured Arshad he would get back some of his money and at 9 am he sent him a link via WhatsApp to fill in information.

The form, titled ‘Support complaint 1.apk', sought personal information including bank details. Not suspecting anything, Arshad filled it out and submitted it.

Around 8 pm, Arshad received a call from another person claiming to be an Ola customer care executive. Strangely, he asked Arshad to go to the ATM and withdraw money.

Irritated, the complainant told him, he didn't want a refund anymore. Five minutes later, he received a message informing him that Rs 2.5 lakh had been debited from his bank account and two minutes another Rs 2.5 lakh was deducted.

"I was in the process of buying a flat and had kept Rs 5 lakh aside to pay to the seller. I had authorised my bank to pay the money to the seller, so I thought that the bank had transferred it to the latter. On June 1, when I inquired with the bank, I realised that the money has been transferred to an account in Muraliganj, Bihar," the complainant's statement read. Arshad then rushed to NRI Coastal police station and based on his application, the cops registered an offence against the person to whose account the money had been transferred under Section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code, and the IT Act.

"An offence has been registered against the holder of the account into which the money had been routed," said an officer of the NRI Coastal police station.

May 31
Day complainant dialled the number