Mumbai Crime: Powai man loses Rs 98,000 to scamster posing as potential tenant

This picture has been used for representational purpose

In a case of online fraud, a director of a Mumbai-based private company lost Rs 98,000 after he was allegedly duped by a man posing as a Border Security Force (BSF) personnel.

According to a report in Times of India, the fraudster duped the victim on the pretext of paying Rs 50,000 as a deposit for taking the latter's Kolkata flat on rent. The incident took place on Friday, when victim Sayantan Dasgupta (47), a resident of Powai received a call from a person named Sachin Sharma.

He told Dasgupta that he wanted to rent a flat in Kolkata where he was posted and will move in with his family. Sharma told the victim that he is transferring Rs 50,000 as a deposit amount via G Pay. "I had barely accepted the transaction request sent by the fraudster and money got debited instead of being credited. The second transaction was done automatically without any PIN authentication," Dasgupta said.

After two transactions of Rs 49,000, each were carried out from his bank account within a minute, Dasgupta blocked his account and immediately filed a police complaint. "The scamster got the victim's contact details from a housing portal. This is a new modus operandi of many online fraudsters who collect database of property owners and dupe them," said an officer from Powai police station.