A 59-year-old retired resident of Ghatkopar West has become the victim of a cyber fraud and lost a total of ₹3.01 lakh after attempting to resolve a delivery issue following an online order. The incident reportedly occurred between May 10 and May 30 this year.
According to the complaint, on May 10 around 3:30 PM, the complainant had ordered a Good Knight refill using a grocery delivery app. However, after not receiving the product for several days, he checked the app again on May 28 at around 4 PM and noticed that the Cash on Delivery (COD) option had been disabled on his account.
In an attempt to rectify the issue, the complainant searched for the app’s customer care number on Google and found a mobile number. Upon calling, the man who answered identified himself as “Manish Mishra” and claimed to be a customer care executive. When asked about the disabled COD option, Mishra told the complainant he would investigate and disconnected the call.
Roughly 30–35 minutes later, the same individual made a WhatsApp video call to the complainant. He assured him that the COD facility would be reactivated, but asked the complainant to first make an online payment of ₹10. When the complainant refused, stating he did not know how to do online transactions, the accused offered to guide him and asked for his bank details.
The complainant provided details of his Bharat Co-op Bank debit card. When a transaction didn’t go through, Mishra asked if he had another bank account. The victim then revealed he had an account with IDBI Bank. Mishra proceeded to ask for IDBI account details, as well as the complainant's Aadhaar and PAN card numbers—all of which were shared.
Mishra then told the complainant he would call back in 10–15 minutes and disconnected the call.
The next morning, on May 29 at around 10 AM, the complainant attempted to call a friend from his mobile phone but received an alert that his “mobile network is not registered.” Upon visiting a nearby Gallery, he was informed that the biometric data linked to his mobile number had been changed, resulting in service termination. He was advised to visit an Aadhaar center to re-link his number.
At the Aadhaar center in Vidyavihar, officials told him that his mobile number had already been re-linked via biometric change and that the Aadhaar system only allows a mobile number to be linked once. He then linked his second number to his Aadhaar.
Suspecting foul play, he visited Bharat Co-op Bank on May 30, where he learned that ₹1.57 lakh had been transferred out of his account to various unknown accounts. A visit to his IDBI Bank branch revealed another ₹1.44 lakh had been similarly siphoned off. Realizing he had been duped, the complainant informed his son and contacted the national cybercrime helpline number 1930.
In his complaint, the victim stated that after facing a delivery issue with his online order, he searched the internet for customer care support and called a number that turned out to be fraudulent. The individual posing as “Manish Mishra” contacted him via WhatsApp video call, promised to restore the COD service, and then tricked him into sharing sensitive banking and identity details. Using this information, the fraudster transferred a total of ₹3.01 lakh from the victim’s Bharat Co-op and IDBI Bank accounts.
Ghatkopar police are investigating the matter further.