Septuagenarian duped of Rs 9.5 lakh; college principal loses Rs 98k

In both cases, the victims were asked to download apps to make payment. Representation pic

The police have registered two cases of cyber fraud based on complaints filed by two women in the city. In the first case, a 76-year-old woman living in Oshiwara was duped of R9.48 lakh while trying to pay her electricity bill. The second case involved the 47-year old principal of a well-known college in Kandivali East, who was cheated of R98,000 while trying to book a doctor's appointment at a hospital in Mira Road.

According to the police, the woman in Oshiwara received a text message stating that her electricity bill had not been paid and power supply to her home would be disconnected. "She is a Pune resident and was visiting her son in Oshiwara. The fraudsters asked her to install an app to pay her bill. She made an initial payment of R100, after which seven fraudulent transactions were made to siphon off money from her account," said an officer, adding that she lost a total of R9.48 lakh within minutes.

The second case was reported to the Samta Nagar police. The college principal had been regularly visiting Bhakti Vedant Hospital over the past seven months for her husband's treatment and was trying to book a doctor's appointment. "During her last visit, one of the doctors gave her a cell phone number to book appointments at the hospital. She called the number on April 14 and the person who responded sent her a link via WhatsApp to fill in details and make a payment of R5. She made the payment through Google Pay, but the transaction didn't go through," said an officer.

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According to the police, the woman was then told her to download another app and make the payment through it, but she wasn't able to transfer the amount. She contacted the doctor who sent her another number which she couldn't get through. The next morning, she received a phone call from the hospital informing her that her appointment had been booked for that evening. However, the next day, she received two messages from her bank informing her that R98,000 had been debited from her account. The woman approached the Samta Nagar police and submitted a written complaint on Saturday, after which a case was registered under various sections of the Indian Penal Code.