Distributor Manmohan Kapur was cheated of Rs. 2.9 lakh in Bombay after he was lured with a gift — a cellphone worth Rs. 6,800 — by a man posing as an employee of a bank which had offered him an international credit card at absolutely no cost. The new cellphone was used to steal confidential banking details of Kapur to carry out eight fraudulent fund transfers from two of his bank accounts for a total of Rs. 2.9 lakh on 5th April.
The fraudster tried to transfer another Rs. 4 lakh from Manmohan Kapur’s account, but Kapur had by then realised his mistake and got his bank to reverse the transaction in the nick of time.
The fraudster first called Kapur on 27th March, introducing himself as an employee of a bank which was offering an international card without charging any fees. The fraudster called again on 5th April and asked Kapur to download a form and fill in the details. After Kapur filled up the online form, the man failed to get remote access to his cellphone to siphon the money. Hence he sent him a cellphone at no extra cost, adding that since he (Kapur) was using an iPhone, it prevented him (the fraudster) from activating some features. Unknown to Kapur, the man had already installed an application in the new phone, which would give him access to Kapur’s bank and credit card details. Once Kapur provided the man with details of his Aadhar card, PAN card and other bank cards, the fraud was carried out as soon as Kapur activated the new phone.
Five transactions of Rs. 5,000 each, one transaction of Rs. 25,000, another of Rs. 2 lakh and some others totalling Rs. 40,000 were done to siphon Rs. 2.9 lakh totally.
The police is investigating.