Mumbai Cyber Fraud: 53-Year-Old Cop Duped Of ₹1.6 Lakh After Phone Hacked During Repair At Tardeo Shop; Case Registered

Mumbai: In a concerning case of cyber fraud, a 53-year-old Mumbai Police personnel, Kiran Motilal Badgujar, who lost Rs 1.60 lakh from his bank account after his mobile phone was allegedly hacked after a at a local mobile service centre in Tardeo.

Password misuse leads to unauthorised transfers

According to the FIR, Badgujar had given his Moto G60 mobile phone for repair at Rajesh Mobile Repairing Centre in Tardeo on the evening of July 28 due to overheating issues and not functioning properly.

The technician replaced the battery and returned the phone after two days. However, when the phone continued to malfunction, Badgujar handed it back, and it was then sent to another technician.

It was returned to Badgujar after about a week. During the repair period, Badgujar had shared his screen lock password with the repair center for convenience.

On July 15, after resuming normal usage of the device, Badgujar tried to access his HDFC Bank app but found it unresponsive. He then used Google Pay to check his account balance and found Rs 3,70,353 remaining.

However, starting the next day, a series of unauthorized transactions began, and over time, a total of Rs 1.60 lakh was siphoned off via digital wallets.

Suspicious links traced to unknown numbers

Further investigation revealed that suspicious links were sent from his mobile to four unknown phone numbers. Badgujar suspects that his mobile was hacked during the repair and malicious links were used to access and drain his account.

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FIR filed, probe underway

He immediately froze his bank account and reported the matter to the Tardeo Police. A case has been registered under Section 318(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Sections 66C and 66D of the Information Technology (IT) Act.

Police have launched an investigation and are tracing the unidentified individuals linked to the fraud.