A 52 year old man from a district in southern Kerala lost Rs 95,000 after being cheated by cyber criminals while trying to service his water purifier using an online toll free number, police said on Thursday.
According to police, the incident took place on August 23 when the complainant searched online for the customer care number of a well known water purifier company.
He found a toll free number and called it, without realising that it was a fake number, police said.
The man was assured that a company representative would get in touch with him shortly.
Later that day, he received a call from a person claiming to be a company executive, who told him to activate the service facility by downloading an app through a link sent to his phone, a police officer said.
“As directed, the victim installed the application, which turned out to be a remote access app. Soon after installation, three unauthorised UPI transactions were made from his account, resulting in a loss of Rs 95,000,” a police officer said.
Investigators later found that the toll free number had been created and posted online by cyber fraudsters.
According to cyber police, the remote access app enabled the fraudsters to control the victim’s phone and carry out transactions.
Based on the complaint, Pathanamthitta Cyber Police Station registered a case on Tuesday under different sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Information Technology Act.
Cyber police officials said that efforts are underway to trace the accounts where the stolen money was transferred and recover the amount.
“There have been multiple such incidents across the country where fake customer care numbers are posted online. The public must ensure that contact details are taken only from authentic company websites. With festive season purchases increasing, customers should be extra cautious as installation works are now carried out after contacting customer care numbers,” the officer added.
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