Noida: Cybercons allegedly siphoned Rs 6.1 lakh from a 54-year-old man’s bank account after tricking him into sharing his mobile screen under the pretext of completing credit card application documentation. The man discovered the fraud when he tried to make a payment at a CNG station but the transaction failed.Police said the man, who lives in a residential society in Haibatpur, Greater Noida West, had received a call from an unknown number at 11.17 am on Oct 31. The caller allegedly had offered to help him to apply for a credit card.The caller then shared a form on the man’s WhatsApp number and instructed him to fill in the required details. However, when the document failed to open on his phone, the scammer initiated a video call and asked him to give access to his screen, claiming that he would guide him through the process.The man told the cops that the caller may have accessed his mobile screen during the video interaction. The fraudster asked him to get in touch again after some time and disconnected the call.However, later that afternoon, when the man tried to make payments at a CNG station with his debit card, the transactions failed. He immediately checked his transaction logs and discovered that 12 unauthorised payments amounting to Rs 6.1 lakh had been carried out. He contacted his bank’s customer service department and informed officials about the suspicious withdrawals.During a preliminary investigation, police also found that the suspects had allegedly tampered with the call-forwarding settings on the man’s mobile phone. An unfamiliar mobile number had been added to the forwarding list, potentially allowing the fraudsters to divert incoming calls and intercept sensitive banking communications. They suspect that the accused had obtained the OTPs through the number that was added to the forwarding list.Cops at the cybercrime branch police station have registered a case against unidentified individuals under sections 318(4) (cheating) and 319(2) (cheating by impersonation) of BNS, along with relevant provisions of the Information Technology Act.A police officer said they are trying to identify the people involved in the fraud. Efforts are currently underway to establish how the suspects accessed the victim’s mobile phone and executed the unauthorised transactions.
