Bollywood assistant director loses Rs 3.39 lakh in KYC fraud in Mumbai

A man working in Bollywood as an assistant director lost Rs 339 lakh after online fraudsters duped him on the pretext of updating the Know Your Customer KYC details of his bank police said on ThursdayAccording to news agency PTI the complainant Chetan Desai told the police that he received a message last week from an unknown number The message stated that his bank account had been closed an officer from Oshiwara Police Station saidDesai immediately called the sender of the message who told him that the account was closed owing to incomplete KYC details He also asked Desai to update the information and sent a link for it PTI reportedSoon after the complainant opened the link and put in the information including his account number PAN card number and Aadhaar number he received multiple messages stating that money has been withdrawn from his bank the officer saidDesai lost Rs 339 lakh following which he approached the police and lodged a complaint PTI reportedEfforts are underway to trace the bank to which the money was transferred the officer informedMumbai Fraudsters luring victims over pending echallans say policeThe LT Marg police have booked a gang for allegedly duping people in a new cyber fraud where victims are lured into downloading malicious files after which money is siphoned off their bank accountsPolice said the cybercriminals approached the victims on the pretext of pending echallans via text messages Two such cases were registered at the LT Marg police station in the span of two months ldquoThe message the victims received looked like it was sent by mParivahanrdquo said a police officer mParivahan is a government app developed by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways that provides access to various transportrelated services and informationldquoIn this case the victims received messages stating their echallans were due and urging them to make urgent payments The due amount was mentioned and once the victims attempted to make the payment they were directed to a link where the transaction was supposed to be completedrdquo the official addedA victim told midday that the link led to the download of an apk file which was then installed on their mobile phone An apk file or Android Package Kit is the file format used to distribute and install applications on Android devicesldquoThe apk file was downloaded when the victim clicked the link It appeared as though the mParivahan app was being installed but no such app actually got downloaded Instead it was a malicious applicationmdasha software that gives cybercriminals access to the victimrsquos phone and all the data stored on the devicerdquo explained a cyber cell officerIn most cases cyber fraudsters use personal and sensitive information from a victimrsquos device to siphon money from their bank accounts ldquoTypically the money is transferred to other bank accounts But in this case the fraudsters used the stolen money to book movie or event ticketsrdquo the officer saidFollowing a monthlong investigation the LT Marg police said they managed to trace the mastermind behind the operation Two persons have been identified and their arrests are expected soon confirmed police officers privy to investigationsWith PTI inputsatOptionskeyd0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7formatiframeheight90width728params