Mumbai: Trying to save Rs 5K, woman loses Rs 6 lakh in cyber fraud

The woman said the man identified himself as a NCPI official. Representation Pic

A woman, 31, lost nearly Rs 6 lakh in a cyber scam while trying to withdraw money from an ATM. According to the woman, she attempted to withdraw Rs 5,000 from an ATM using the cardless feature through her bank app on September 26, however, the transaction went awry, and the money was sent to the Chief Minister's Distress Relief Fund (CMDRF) instead.

Following this, she immediately contacted the Cyber Control Room at 1930 to report the error and also searched online for a customer support number for the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and found a toll-free number online. She said that she dialled the number, and the man on the other end identified himself as Suresh Sharma, an NCPI official, who responded to her request for assistance. However, shortly after, she received another call from an individual who identified himself as Amit Yadav.

The woman said that Yadav instructed her to download an app and asked to share her mobile screen for further help, which she did. Trusting the callers, she followed their instructions, unknowingly exposing personal information from her Paytm app, and within a short time, Rs 93,062 was debited from one of her bank accounts.

The scam escalated further when she was contacted by another fraudster, Rakesh Kumar Dasora, who persuaded her to share details of her other bank account as well, and between September 26 and 30, a total of Rs 5,98,000 was drained from two of her accounts. The woman said that the fraudsters repeatedly assured her that her money would be refunded within 24 to 36 hours, but she realised that she had fallen victim to cyber fraud and filed a complaint through the cybercrime portal. She also filed a police complaint with the Ghatkopar police station on October 2.

"This is a type of Google scam, where numerous fraudulent numbers for private and government organisations are being listed. We have repeatedly requested Google to remove these fake customer service numbers, but it seems no action has been taken," said a police officer.

Cyber safety tips

>> Don't accept unknown calls
>> Don't click on unknown emails, URLs, QR codes, etc.
>> Don't accept friend requests from strangers
>> Don't share personal details on social media
>> Always lock your social media profile and keep it private
>> Use strong passwords and different passwords for each account
>> Set purchase limits on debit/credit cards
>> In case of cybercrime, please report on the helpline no. 1930