A case of online fraud has emerged from Mumbai's Kurla area where a man impersonated a Google Pay employee to deceive a local tailor. The incident, believed to be the first of its kind involving a fraudster posing as a Google Pay representative, has led to an FIR being registered and the accused being arrested by the Vinoba Bhave Nagar Police.
The accused, identified as Imaan Ilyas Khan, a resident of Ambikanagar in Vikroli Parksite, visited a tailor shop in Kurla West on the night of June 15, pretending to be an official from Google Pay. According to the police, Khan attempted to exploit the shop owner's dependence on digital transactions, which are common among small businesses.
The victim, 45-year-old Mainuddin Sajjad Ansari, owns Kazmeen Tailors on Hall Road near Halavpul in Kurla (West) and uses PhonePe linked to his Bank of Baroda account for receiving payments.
Around 8:10 PM, Khan entered the shop and asked Ansari whether his digital payment system was updated. On hearing that it wasn't, Khan warned that failure to update could disrupt future transactions. He then asked for Ansari’s mobile phone.
Trusting the explanation, Ansari unlocked the PhonePe app and entered his PIN upon Khan’s request. Khan, after pretending to update the system, tried to leave the shop, claiming the update would reflect within 10–15 minutes. Sensing something suspicious, Ansari stopped him and immediately checked his transaction history — only to find that ₹10,000 had been transferred to an ICICI Bank account under the name Irshad Ali at 8:34 PM.
When confronted, Khan gave vague responses. A neighbouring shopkeeper, Vinod Tiwari, intervened and questioned Khan, who claimed the transfer was a mistake and made a phone call. Soon after, at 9:43 PM, ₹10,001 was transferred back to Ansari’s account from an Axis Bank account belonging to Ahmed Raza Abdul Majeed Khan.
The police were alerted immediately. Two officers arrived at the scene and took Khan into custody. An Aadhaar card recovered from him bore an address in Bhayandar East.
Vinoba Bhave Nagar Police have registered a case under Section 318(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) related to fraud and cybercrime. Further investigation is underway.