Coaching class director loses Rs1.60 lakh to cyberfraud

A 40-year-old, who runs a coaching class in Dadar (West), was duped of Rs1.60 lakh by cyber fraudsters last month.

“The police filed a first information report (FIR) only this week, as it took them time to verify details with the bank,” the complainant Ajay Bhalchandra Pinge said. The Shivaji Park police are now trying to trace the accused.

According to the police, on March 20, Pinge had contacted the customer care of an online shopping portal, as the quality of product he received was not satisfactory. The executive said he would refund the money and asked Pinge to share his account number. He told him he was facing an error in transferring the money and fraudulently obtained Pinge’s debit card details, an officer from Shivaji Park police station said.

“After Pinge shared the OTPs, he received SMS alerts of transactions worth Rs1.60 lakh and realised he had been duped,” the officer said. The accused has been booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and Information Technology Act.