MUMBAI: Amboli police registered an FIR on Sept 30 after singer Ravi Mehra (73) was allegedly duped of Rs 45,000 through a suspected three-way call merge scam involving a purported parcel delivery.Mehra, an Andheri (West) resident, received a call on Sept 20 from a man claiming to represent Zepto Customer Care. The caller said an item was missing from a parcel meant for Mehra and asked him to remain on the phone.According to the FIR, the caller asked Mehra to transfer Rs 2 through Google Pay to a mobile number. Mehra later noticed that Rs 45,000 had been debited from his bank savings account.Mehra said he subsequently received another call from a person claiming to be from Zepto Customer Care, who acknowledged the debit and sought his bank account details, purportedly to return the money. Mehra said he did not provide any information and contacted the cyber helpline 1930 that night to register a complaint.Police said the caller kept Mehra engaged and managed to obtain one-time password details. Investigators have sought information from the bank and asked it to freeze the account that received the money.A senior cyber police officer said scammers may briefly place victims on hold or merge another line to intercept automated security readouts, including voice OTPs generated by online banking, Gmail or UPI systems.The officer said prolonged calls do not hack phones or install malware, but allow scammers to keep victims distracted, prevent them from verifying claims and manipulate them into compromising their accounts.
