Hyderabad | Businessman loses ₹2.93 lakh after downloading customer support app sent by scammer and sharing bank account details

Fraudsters impersonate customer care to scam businessmen from Hyderabad, leading to losses of ₹2.93 lakh

An attempt to renew his TV subscription cost a businessman from Hyderabad ₹2.93 lakh. The 40-year-old man looked up ‘Aiwa TV’s customer care’ information and called up a number to discuss the recharge issue. The fraudster in response provided him with a personal mobile number and asked the victim to pay ₹10 for verification.

When the payment failed, the scammer sent the victim a link to download a ‘Customer Support App’. After downloading the app, the scammer requested details of his bank accounts, which the victim promptly shared. Shortly after that, the victim’s phone was hacked. And in 30 minutes, over ₹2.93 lakh was automatically debited from his three bank accounts.

In another case, a 28-year-old man from Hyderabad was duped of ₹1.55 lakh in an impersonation fraud.

The victim, a private employee, received a call from an unknown number claiming to be from the Telecom Department. The call was then transferred to an ‘officer’ from the Tilak Nagar police station in Mumbai, who informed the victim that his SIM card was being used for illegal activities and requested all his personal details.

He was told a case had been booked against him and as part of verification. The victim was asked to transfer the money from his account to a fraudulent account. Both the cases were booked by the Hyderabad cybercrimes police and investigation was initiated.