Mumbai: ‘Mom’ robs actor’s wife out of nearly Rs 1 lakh via texts

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A celebrity's wife was cheated out of Rs 65,000 by unknown fraudsters who hacked her mother's mobile phone and impersonated her to request money. The woman who works at a film production house, received a WhatsApp message from her mother's number on November 15, requesting Rs 65,000.

The message also included a UPI ID to transfer the money. Trusting the message, she transferred the amount. However, minutes later, she received another message asking for an additional Rs 3,500. The language of the second message - a mix of Marathi and Hindi - made her suspicious. She immediately called her mother, who informed her that her phone had been hacked and similar fraudulent messages had been sent to all her contacts.

The woman approached Khar police, who registered an FIR and launched an investigation. According to police officials, her mother, who resides in Bhopal, works in the art space and financial transactions between the woman and her mother are quite frequent. A police officer said, "The victim trusted the initial message as it appeared to be from her mother. However, after realising the fraud, she promptly reported the matter to us. We are investigating the UPI ID and the cyber trail of the hackers."