Mumbai Crime: ‘Golden hour’ police action reverses Rs 7.5 lakh cyber fraud

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Booking a hotel online just about turned into a nightmare for an elderly training manager of a private airline, when he almost lost Rs 7.5 lakh to cyber fraud. The manager was able to get back the entire sum, before it could be transferred to the fraudster, thanks to swift action within the "golden hour" of the crime.

The Sanpada resident, 62, was browsing through a prominent hotel booking site on Friday morning, for his trip to Delhi next week. He called the customer care number to make a payment through his credit card, but failed to do so. Moments later, he got a call from the agent asking him to pay through a WhatsApp link. This led to an application which got downloaded on his phone. He then received a One Time Password (OTP). The application compromises with the phone's security and gives fraudsters the phone's controls.

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As soon as he received the OTP, he suspected something amiss and disconnected the call. He then rushed to his bank and found that R7.5 lakh had been withdrawn in five transactions. He was asked to approach the police. "Our cyber cell officer, Assistant Police Inspector (API) Shrikant Neve and Police Constable Amup asked the bank to stop the money transfer to the beneficiary account, which was of the fraudster," said Pradip More, senior inspector of Vakola police station.