Boy orders jacket online, duped of ` 1L

Cyber fraudsters continue to dupe people by luring them into different traps, irrespective of the fact that the victim is a senior citizen or a minor. Recently, a 14year-old boy, who was using his mother's mobile phone to attend online lectures, fell prey to cyber con and ended up losing Rs 1 lakh to the fraud. On Wednesday, the RAK Marg Police registered an offence based on a written complaint filed by the teen's mother.

The teen, a resident of Sewri, had been using his mother's mobile phone to attend online lectures since last year, the same phone number is also attached to his mother's e-wallet, said police. As the schools and colleges are shut due to Covid-19, teenagers like him are forced to rely on mobile phones for studies as well as for exams. The boy's father repairs TV while his mother is a housewife, said police.

Recently the teenager had ordered a jacket worth Rs 261 from a shopping portal and had paid the money online. Two days later when the jacket was not delivered, the teen contacted the number given on the website.

A person, who claimed to be a marketing manager of the portal answered his call and told him that due to a lockdown his order has been cancelled. He asked the teen to reorder and asked him to share the OTP (one time password) received on his phone. The fraudsters already have his card details including card number and CVV (Card Verification Value ) number as the teen paid online while ordering a jacket.

Unaware of the con the teenager continued to share OTPs with the 'representative', said police. The incident came to light when the boy narrated the incident to his mother who immediately rushed to the bank sensing danger. Her nightmare came true when she updated her passbook and realised that Rs 1.06 lakh had been withdrawn in a series of five transactions.

"We have registered an offence of cheating under the section 66C (identity theft) and 66D (cheating by personation using computer resources) of the Information Technology act. And our investigation is underway, said police.