Naval officer's octogenarian mother-in-law loses Rs 2 lakh in online fraud

An 81-year-old woman, whose son-in-law is a vice admiral-rank officer in the Indian Navy here, lost nearly Rs 2 lakh in an online fraud as she was lured into redeeming the reward points offered in the name of a prominent bank, police said on Thursday.

The woman lodged a complaint in this connection with the Cuffe Parade police station in south Mumbai on Tuesday evening, an official said.

The victim stays at the Naval Officers' Residential Area (NOFRA) at Colaba with her daughter and son-in-law, who is a vice admiral-rank officer in the navy, he said.

In her complaint, the woman said she received a message on her mobile phone on September 3 evening, in which she was asked to immediately redeem reward points worth Rs 5,899, saying it was the last day to do so. A link was provided in the message, which she was directed to open, he added.

The next day, the woman clicked the link, which took her to the official page of the bank. As per the instructions given on the home page, she was asked to tick the one-time password (OTP) option. After doing so, she received a six-digit OTP on her mobile phone, which she entered on the portal. But she received the same instruction two more times. This way, she entered the OTP thrice, he said.

When the woman checked the mobile app of the bank, she found that Rs 89,798, Rs 89,813 and Rs 19,858, were debited from her bank account in three transactions, he said.

''She then alerted her son-in-law about it, who said she has been duped by a cyber fraudster, following which she approached a branch of the bank, from where she went to the police station to file her complaint,'' the police official said. Based on her complaint, an case under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating) and the Information Technology Act was registered against the unidentified cyber fraudster, he said, adding that a probe in the case was underway.

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