A sitting judge of the Bombay High Court was duped of over Rs.6 lakh in an online credit card reward points scam while attempting to redeem points through a fraudulent link. The Cuffe Parade Police Station has registered an FIR and launched an investigation into the cyber fraud targeting the judge.
A sitting judge of the Bombay High Court filed a police complaint after falling victim to an online credit card scam, resulting in a loss of over Rs.6 lakh.
The Cuffe Parade police in Mumbai have registered a first information report (FIR) under the Information Technology Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
According to the FIR, the incident occurred on February 28 while the judge was trying to redeem reward points through an HDFC Bank credit card. While at home, the judge searched for the bank’s customer care number and came across a helpline in the search results, which he mistakenly believed to be legitimate.
After calling the number, the individual who answered claimed to be a representative from the bank’s credit card department and offered assistance with redeeming the points.
The FIR states that the caller then sent a link to download an application via WhatsApp and instructed the judge to install it and enter his credit card details to “process the rewards.”
When the file was inaccessible on his iPhone, the judge used another smartphone at home, installed the application, and entered his card information on a subsequent webpage.
Mentioning four significant debits totaling Rs.,6,02,566,The judge states in the complaint,
“Immediately after submitting the details, I received mails on my registered email ID informing me of several transactions carried out on my credit card. This is when I realised I have been duped,”
Promptly, the judge contacted the bank’s official customer care to block the card. Subsequently, he reported the matter to the national cybercrime helpline and filed a complaint on their portal before reaching out to the local police.
The police have initiated action against unidentified individuals under sections 66, 66C, and 66D (cheating by impersonation) of the Information Technology Act, along with sections 3(5), 318(4) (cheating), and 319(2) (cheating by impersonation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
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The Information Technology Act, 2000 (IT Act, 2000) is India’s primary law dealing with cybercrime and electronic commerce.
- The Act was introduced to:
- Give legal recognition to electronic records and digital signatures
- Facilitate e-commerce and online transactions
Earlier, aA 68-year-old woman living in Andheri West, Mumbai, has alleged that she was cheated of Rs.3.71 crore in a well-planned “digital arrest” scam, where fraudsters created a fake online court hearing and even used the name of a top judge to scare her into transferring her life savings.