Marathi film actress Ila Bhate was cheated of Rs. 1.48 lakh by a cyber fraudster today (February 26). According to her complaint with the Vile Parle police station in Bombay, she received a text message on her husband’s mobile phone. The message was purported to be sent by Airtel and informed that the KYC (Know Your Customer) procedure had not been updated and that it must be completed, failing which the number would be blocked. When Ila Bhate called on the number provided in the message received, the fraudster impersonated an Airtel executive and asked her to download an app and then pay Rs. 10 in a particular account as KYC fees. The fraudster could see her banking details while she was making the Rs. 10 payment, because of the app which she had downloaded.
Ila Bhatt got suspicious soon thereafter but it was already too late. The fraudster had used her credit card details to withdraw Rs. 1.48 lakh from her bank account.