In Thane, a 57-year-old resident named Sanjay Shankar Salvi fell victim to a sophisticated online banking scam, losing Rs 10 lakhs. The incident unfolded on June 26th, between 3:39 PM and 5:00 PM, when Salvi received a WhatsApp message from an unknown sender. The fraudster claimed that Salvi's Skype ID had been compromised and convinced him to share his screen for verification, exploiting his trust and resulting in the substantial financial loss.
The perpetrator further gained Salvi's trust by falsely claiming that he had 25 active accounts that needed to be checked. This ploy likely convinced Mr. Salvi the sender was a legitimate representative from his bank. The accused then manipulated Mr. Salvi into initiating a series of online transactions totaling ₹10 lakhs from his bank account. The money was never returned, prompting Mr. Salvi to file a complaint.
The Vartaknagar Police Police have registered a First Information Report (FIR) against the unknown accused under relevant sections. The case falls under Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property, and Sections 66(C) and 66(D) of the Information Technology Act, 2000, which deal with hacking and data breaches. Police Inspector D.B. Vede is currently leading the investigation into this case.