Mumbai, March 25 An 78-year-old woman in Mumbai lost over Rs 25 lakh online after a fraudster gained access to her mobile phone, claiming to be changing the name on her electricity bill as requested by her, police said on Wednesday.
The victim lives in the Four Bungalows area in Andheri, a police official said.
The fraudster, who posed as an employee of the electricity company, sent a file to the woman via WhatsApp, and gained access to her phone after she downloaded it, he said.
The victim, who lives with her maid, had submitted an application on March 10 to change the name on her electricity bill. The next day, she went to Kerala to meet her relatives. While staying in Kerala, she received a WhatsApp call from a mobile number, with the caller introducing himself as an employee of the electricity company.
He asked the victim to pay Rs 13 to change the name on the power utility's consumer account. Since she was out of town, she asked the caller to speak to her maid, after which the caller called her maid and put both of them on the same call.
The fraudster then sent an APK file on her WhatsApp in the name of completing e-KYC. Once she downloaded the file, he obtained access to her mobile phone. The caller then asked for her credit card details and a password for verification, and withdrew over Rs 25 lakh from her bank accounts. After she received messages about the withdrawals, she realized that she had been scammed, the official said.
She reported the incident to the 1930 helpline, he added.
She returned to Mumbai on March 21 and filed a complaint, based on which a case has been registered under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Information Technology Act.