Mumbai: An IIT engineer lost ₹14.95 lakhs in an online fraud. The scammer gained access to his mobile phone, took loans from various financial companies, and used his ICICI Bank credit card to defraud him. A case was registered against an unidentified individual for allegedly committing the fraud on May 28.
About The Case
According to the FIR, the complainant, Deepak W, 31, resides in Powai and works as a Senior Project Engineer at IIT Powai. On February 20, he received a call from Credito Twenty Four, a financial company. An employee of the company informed him that he had taken a loan of ₹13,500 and had failed to pay the EMI (Equated Monthly Instalment). When he replied that he had not taken any such loan, the company cross-checked his Aadhaar card, PAN card, and other details—which all matched his personal information.
Deepak grew suspicious and checked his CIBIL score, which reflects an individual's creditworthiness. He discovered that, in his name, the scammer had taken loans from three financial companies. Two of them were identified as Poonawalla Fincorp, from which a loan of ₹3 lakhs was taken, and Kissht Financial Services, from which a loan of ₹80,000 was drawn. Additionally, the scammer had used his ICICI Bank credit card for unauthorised transactions.
The complaint mentioned that his phone had not been hacked, he had not received any suspicious messages, and he did not recall clicking on any link or downloading any app by mistake. He believes the scammer somehow accessed his mobile, took loans in his name, and used his credit card, defrauding him of ₹14.95 lakhs. The fraudulent transactions reportedly occurred between January 8 and January 19.
He filed an online complaint with the Cyber Police. The Western Cyber Police registered an FIR under Sections 318(4) (cheating) and 319(2) (cheating by personation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with relevant sections of the Information Technology Act.
