Mumbai crime: Professor paid Rs 10 to renew KYC, duped of Rs 3.9 lakh

The cyber police have found that Naik’s phone was cloned by the fraudsters after he clicked the link / Representation pic

The south region cyber cell has registered an FIR against unknown persons for duping a Bachelor Of Mass Media (BMM) professor of over Rs 3.9 lakh. The accused posed as an Airtel customer care executive and asked the complainant to renew his KYC. The complainant lost money in multiple transactions after he shared an OTP with fraudsters.

Accused asked to make payment of Rs 10

Professor Shridhar Naik, who has been a leading faculty for BMM students across Mumbai, approached the south Mumbai cyber cell on Monday after being duped of Rs 3,99,500 by a cyber fraudster. "The Mumbai police immediately registered an FIR in the matter and started the probe," Naik told mid-day.

According to Naik, on Friday he received an SMS from Airtel asking him to renew his KYC. "I called the given number. The executive, who identified himself as Rahul, asked me to make a payment to an HDFC Bank account. Later, I was asked to fill in an OTP," Naik said in his complaint to cyber police.

According to the professor, the caller filled out his KYC form after taking the details from him, which included his PAN number and bank account details. "He sent me a link of a nationalised bank and asked me to make payment of Rs 10, which I did," Naik told mid-day.

The caller then informed Naik that his KYC was renewed. However, after some time, three transactions of Rs 20,000, Rs 1 lakh and Rs 99,500 took place from Naik's account. He immediately informed the bank to get his accounts blocked.

More transactions on the next day

"On the night of February 5, I got a call from the same number again. The caller, who identified himself as Amit Mishra, asked me to send the OTP. When I confronted him about the previous transactions, he said he could resend the amount to me after being provided with the OTP," Naik said in his statement to police.

"On the evening of February 6, I found my mobile and internet banking unblocked and the mini statement showed that Rs 50,000 were transferred out of my account in two installments. When I called the bank, I was told that they would again block my mobile banking app and UPI, which were unblocked."

The south region cyber cell has registered an FIR and is investigating the matter further. The cyber police have found that Naik's phone was cloned by the fraudsters after he clicked the link.