Mira Bhayandar: An 81-year-old retired Income Tax (IT) officer from Mira Road became the latest target of cyber crooks who duped him of more than Rs 2.06 lakh under the guise of helping restore a channel which had abruptly stopped streaming on the over-the-top (OTT) platform of a broadband service providing company.

About The Case

In his statement to the police, the complainant said that a south-Indian channel which he had subscribed to on the broadband service abruptly stopped streaming on his smart TV. He tried searching for the helpline number of the service provider and ended up calling the cyber-fraudsters who had apparently uploaded fake numbers on a potentially illegal website resembling the original portal. After hanging up, the cyber crooks called the complainant from a personal number.

Under the guise of helping resolve the issue, the cyber crooks asked him to transfer a paltry amount of Rs 2 to a specified digital wallet towards service authentication charges. The unsuspecting complainant complied and transferred the amount. 24 hours later, the complainant was shocked to learn that Rs 2.06 lakh had been siphoned-off from his bank account via five Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions.

Cyber criminals have been exploiting prominent internet search engines by uploading fake numbers which show-up on priority basis with the help of artificial intelligence (AI)-based optimization. Meanwhile an offence under the relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS) and Information Technology Act was registered in this context against the cyber crooks at the Naya Nagar police station in Mira Road on 18, December. Further investigations were underway.