Fake bank executive asks senior citizen to share OTP for updating KYC, debit ₹3.94L from account

Mumbai: Three persons from Jharkhand were arrested on Saturday for allegedly duping a senior citizen to the tune of ₹3.94 lakh on the pretext of updating the Know-Your-Customer (KYC) of her bank account.

The arrested accused were identified as Virendra Kumar Mandal, 31, Ashok Mandal, 30, and Rohit Mandal, 31. The three are residents of the same village in Jharkhand.

According to the police, the victim is a 65-year-old woman, who lives in the DB Marg area, and she has opened a joint savings account with her husband.

In January, this year, she received a phone call, when a caller introduced him as a bank employee, and said that her bank KYC is pending, and if she would not update, her account will be closed and money will be seized.

The victim then asked about the process and what needs to be done for updating the KYC. The accused then sent her a link to a mobile app and asked her to download it. The victim followed the instructions given by the accused.

Several transactions took place in the victim’s bank account in which ₹3.94 lakh was debited from her account. The victim also shared the OTP with the accused, said senior inspector Pradeep Khude of the DB Marg police station.

The victim then approached the police and based on her statement; a case was registered against unknown persons.

A cyber team was conducting an investigation and they traced the person and his accomplices, who were involved. A police team then went to Jharkhand and brought the accused to Mumbai and they were produced in the court on Sunday and remanded to police custody, added Khude.

The accused were arrested under the charges of 419, (Punishment for cheating by personation), 420 (Cheating and thereby dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the IPC including IT act.