Mumbai: Fraudster siphons off ₹3.7 lakh from woman's bank in her bid to sell furniture

A woman fell victim to an online fraud after a fraudster siphoned off ₹3.77 lakh from her bank account. The 26-year-old was defrauded under the pretext of making a payment to her for purchasing furniture worth ₹21,000 from her through an online portal, Mumbai police said on Friday. 

The incident came to light after the woman lodged a complaint at suburban Malad police station on Tuesday, an official said. The victim, who stays at a Slum Rehabilitation Authority's (SRA) building, is an executive assistant in a petrolium company, he said. 

"Recently she got a call from her senior that he wanted to sell furniture worth ₹21,000 on an online platform. Accordingly, she registered on an online portal for the sale of the goods. Soon, a cyber fraudster approached her and showed interest in purchasing the furniture," he said. 

On the pretext of making a payment to her, the accused got an access of her bank details and took away ₹3.77 lakh from her account, he said. 

After losing money to cyber fraudster, the victim complained to the police against the unidentified person, he said. The accused has been booked for cheating and cyber fraud and a probe is underway, he said. 

Separately, a man in Noida lost ₹4.50 lakh as he tried to redeem cash points on a credit card.

A lucrative offer to redeem cash points on credit card cost a Noida resident dearly as he lost over ₹4.50 lakh to cyber criminals who duped him by posing as bank representatives.

Two of the suspects, Gurmeet Singh and Surendra Singh -- both residents of Delhi -- were arrested by the Noida Cyber Cell on Thursday while two of their partners have been identified but are at large, police said.

The arrests were made after an FIR was lodged by Vishal Chaudhary at the Phase 2 police station in which he alleged fraud of ₹4.53 lakh with him.

“The complainant informed police that he had got a call from a person who identified himself as an official of his bank. The caller then told him about an offer to redeem points on his credit card purchases and expenses,” a police spokesperson said.

“The caller later directed Chaudhary to a hoax website and sought his credit card details, including confidential information, after which over ₹4.50 lakh were transferred from the complainant's account,” the spokesperson said, citing the complaint.

The accused told police that they had floated a hoax website, listing lucrative schemes for redeeming points on credit card purchases. They called up people by posing as bank officials in order to trap the gullible, the official said.

An FIR has been lodged under Indian Penal Code section 420 (cheating) and under provisions of the Information Technology Act, police said.

On noticing any cyber fraud, people can immediately report the matter at the dedicated helpline number 1930 or 112