A 42-year-old stockbroker from Ghatkopar fell victim to a major cyber fraud after he clicked on a suspicious link claiming to be from India Post regarding an address update. The fraudster sent a message with the fake link, leading to a loss of ₹2,35,555 from the victim’s credit card. The startling aspect of this case is that while the link was accessed in Mumbai, the fraudulent transactions were carried out in Saudi Arabia, raising serious concerns about international cybercrime activity.
The victim, who resides in the Ghatkopar area and supports his family through a stock market business, received a message on 14th May from an unknown mobile number. The message prompted him to update his residential address and included a hyperlink that appeared to be from India Post.
Believing the link to be legitimate, he clicked on it and proceeded to enter his address details. The website then asked him to pay ₹25 as a processing fee. He used his credit card, which is enabled for both domestic and international transactions, to make the payment. Following this, he received two OTPs (one-time passwords), which he entered as instructed.
Soon after submitting the OTPs, he received alerts that two international transactions had been made from his credit card in Saudi Riyals (SAR), amounting to ₹2,35,555. Realising he had been defrauded, the stockbroker immediately approached the Pant Nagar Police Station and lodged a formal complaint.
Based on his complaint, the Pant Nagar police have registered a case under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Information Technology Act against unidentified cyber criminals. Officials believe this could be the first such instance in Mumbai where a link opened locally resulted in fraudulent international transactions.
Senior police officers have taken serious note of the incident, and an FIR has been registered. An investigation is underway to trace the cyber culprits involved in the online financial fraud.