Man loses over Rs 7 lakh as fraudsters posing as customer care executives hack his phone

Thane, Sep 10 (PTI) A man from Kalyan town in Maharashtra's Thane district lost more than Rs 7 lakh after fraudsters allegedly gained access to his mobile phone through hacking after posing as customer care executives during a call, police said on Wednesday.

The incident took place between June 4 and 5 when the complainant was at his home in Siddharth Nagar area of Kalyan east, an official from the Manpada police station said.

"The complainant had ordered a T-shirt and a hair dye online. When he did not receive the items, he searched for the customer care number of an online shopping portal and dialled the number displayed there," he said.

After calling on the number, the fraudster sent a malicious link to the victim on his mobile phone. Believing it to be genuine, he clicked on the link. Soon later, his phone was compromised and within hours, a total of Rs 7,06,533 were siphoned off from his accounts," the official said.

Once he realised that he has been duped, the victim lodged a complaint, he said.

"A case of online financial fraud has been registered and investigation is underway. Our team is analysing digital footprints and tracing the money trail," he added. PTI COR NP