Fraudster withdraws ₹1L from 29-yr-old’s account, shops online

MUMBAI: An unknown fraudster withdrew more than ₹1 lakh from the bank account of a 29-year-old man from Bandra to buy items from an online shopping portal.

The man, who works in a private firm, had taken a loan in July from a finance company with whom he had registered his email ID and mobile number, which were the same as the ones he had registered with his bank.

According to Kherwadi police, the man had taken the loan to buy a television worth ₹16,900 through equated monthly instalments (EMI) of ₹1,400 (to the finance company). He received SMS alerts every time the EMI was deducted from his account.

But according to the FIR, in September, the man received an SMS alert that ₹26,000 had been deducted from his bank account. When he checked with his bank to find out what the problem was, he was informed that ₹1.03 lakh had been debited from his account for an online transaction on a popular shopping portal.

He also found out that he had

not received the SMS alert for this deduction as his registered mobile number had been changed.

Realising he had been defrauded, he registered an FIR with the Kherwadi police.

The police said they would not jump to conclusions and have asked the man’s bank to provide all the necessary details.

The police will also probe the finance company to check if someone had leaked the man’s registered details or whether the complainant himself mistakenly revealed it to the fraudster.