Gujarat police arrest Jharkhand man in payment app scam

The cybercrime branch nabbed Mahendra Das, a native of Jamtara in Jharkhand, from Silvassa town in the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, the official said. The arrest was made based on a complaint lodged by one Manoj Patel, who claimed that a man identified as Rajul had contacted him over phone in June and warned that his Paytm application will stop working if he does not update his "know your customer" (KYC) details.


PTI | Ahmedabad | Updated: 20-10-2020 19:47 IST | Created: 20-10-2020 19:33 IST
Gujarat police arrest Jharkhand man in payment app scam
Representative Image Image Credit: ANI
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The Gujarat police on Tuesday arrested a member of a gang from Jharkhand allegedly involved in taking out money from accounts of unsuspecting victims in the name of updating their details on online payment application Paytm, an official said. The cybercrime branch nabbed Mahendra Das, a native of Jamtara in Jharkhand, from Silvassa town in the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, the official said.

The arrest was made based on a complaint lodged by one Manoj Patel, who claimed that a man identified as Rajul had contacted him over phone in June and warned that his Paytm application will stop working if he does not update his "know your customer" (KYC) details. The man made the victim download a remote desktop application on his phone, through which he managed to find out Patel's OTP and allegedly removed Rs 2.09 lakh from his account in multiple transactions and transferred the sum to the accused's bank accounts, he said.

While Rs 35,000 was transferred into Das' bank account in Silvassa, the deposited money was withdrawn from an ATM in Jamtara, the official added. Meanwhile, Paytm Payments Bank spokesperson said, "There are multiple registered and unregistered telemarketers and subscribers who are senders of unsolicited commercial communication to millions of Indians. As a pattern, these fraudsters abuse the telecom bulk SMS capacity to send SMSes stating if a customer does not call back on the number mentioned in SMS then his Paytm account will get closed." Some innocent customers get defrauded either by sharing banking credentials (card details and OTP) or installing a screen-sharing app, he said, adding that the company has already filed a writ petition in Delhi High Court seeking immediate stopping of circulation of phishing SMSes and calls by telecom operators.

"Our cyber cell department is connected to police crime branches to effectively tackle cyber frauds as and when they are reported. We are constantly working to inform customers to safeguard themselves from such incidents," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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