Bengaluru: A 50-year-old school educator from Singasandra fell prey to cyberfraud and lost ₹84,000 while attempting to correct a mistaken online payment.
The victim, Sandhya (name changed), told Electronics City police that she had intended to transfer ₹2,360 to her son in mid-April as an advance for a yoga class. However, she accidentally sent the money to an auto driver named Manoj, who had been assigned to her via a well-known ride-hailing platform.
She only realized the error when her son informed her that he hadn’t received the funds. Upon reviewing her payment history, Sandhya discovered the misdirected transaction and decided to contact the taxi aggregator’s support team to retrieve the money.
While searching online for the company’s helpline, she found a number and dialed it. Shortly after, she received a call from 6900867712. The caller claimed to be from customer support and assured her that the issue would be resolved. He said another staff member would follow up shortly.
Moments later, she received a second call, during which she was instructed to click on a link sent via WhatsApp to process the refund. Unaware that it was an APK file (used to install apps on Android), Sandhya downloaded and opened it. Within a few hours, scammers accessed her device remotely and withdrew ₹84,360 from her bank account through multiple transactions.
She promptly alerted her bank to block further debits and filed a police report. Authorities have registered a case under the IT Act and BNS Section 318 (cheating).
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