Mumbai: Losing money to a cyber con is bad enough, but being yelled at by the fraudster for blocking your bank account is a new low. This happened to an elderly couple from Jogeshwari last week, prompting them to approach the police. A case of cheating has been registered against the unidentified scammer at Amboli police station.
The 69-year-old complainant and her husband, a retired excise commissioner, reside in Jogeshwari West. Their daughter lives in another city.
On June 9, the complainant received a video call on WhatsApp from an unknown number. The caller claimed to be a representative of a quick commerce platform and offered a refund. He asked her to share her phone screen, which she did. The caller said there was a technical issue with her digital wallet and it would be unusable for 24 hours. He hung up after a few minutes. The complainant checked her digital wallet and found it was not functioning properly.
On June 10, the complainant received another WhatsApp video call. She again shared her phone screen as instructed. The caller told her that her digital wallet would start working and she would receive a refund that day, but this did not happen.
On June 11, the fraudster called back and asked for another family member's phone number with a functional digital wallet. The complainant provided her husband's number. The scammer called him and asked to share his phone screen. Soon after, Rs 98,205 was deducted from the husband's digital wallet. He immediately alerted the complainant. When she checked her digital wallet, over Rs 2.8 lakh had been deducted in installments over the previous three days.
The couple rushed to their bank to block their account to prevent further misuse. Their daughter also lodged a complaint with the cyber helpline 1930. However, the scammer called the couple back and started yelling at them for blocking their bank account. He began threatening them, which terrified the couple, and they approached Amboli police.
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About the Author: Nitasha Natu is a Senior Assistant Editor with the Times of India and writes on gender, human rights, road safety and law enforcement. She has received the Laadli Media & Advertising Award for Gender Sensitivity in 2021. She tweets @nnatuTOI
