Mumbai woman loses Rs 9 lakh after clicking WhatApp link; here's what happened

Online fraud and scams have been on the rise in recent time. The scammer no longer even needs to be familiar with OTP because they have developed a number of other methods for deceiving a victim. A retired Mumbai bank employee lost more than Rs 9 lakh in a recent incident. In Mumbai's east, in Barivali, the incident took place.

The woman reported this to the police after she was tricked and lost a significant sum of money. Sections 419 and 420 of the IPC as well as Sections 66(c) and (d) of the IT Act have been used to register a case at the Dahisar police station. A police investigation into this situation is ongoing.

How did women lose more than Rs 9 lakh?

With the money she saved in her provident fund, Pushpalata Pradeep made a fixed deposit. Pushpalata, who formerly worked in a bank, decided to lodge an online complaint with the bank after experiencing some issues with her fixed deposit. She experienced a number of errors while submitting a complaint on the Union Bank website. The victim mentioned her phone number during this process, and she subsequently received two calls at that number.

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Cyber attackers sent link on WhatsApp

These calls came from scammers who pretended to be bank executives. She was told by the scammers that a link had been sent via WhatsApp. The caller requested that she open the link to the application and download it before registering her complaint.

The victim of the fraud received a link later on WhatsApp, where she filled out her internet banking information. Pushpalata gave her private information during this process, including her bank user ID and password. Pushpalata inquired about how to download the app as well, but the fraudsters diverted her attention with their talking points and persuaded her to do so. The fraudsters then gained access to her accounts after the victim made a mistake.

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Pushpalata recalls, "I downloaded an app, and it opened a form. I filled out this form with my user ID and password for internet banking. As soon as I submitted this form, I received a message stating that the money had already been debited," Aaj Tak reported. As soon as the victim realised she had been duped, she turned off her phone and called the Union Bank call centre from a different phone to report the fraud.