An assistant sub-inspector (ASI) attached to the Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) police station was cheated of Rs 94,103 through a fake bank message. The victim, identified as ASI Sachin Chavan, 52, believed a caller who claimed he had mistakenly transferred money into Chavan’s account, only to be duped by a cleverly faked credit SMS.
The incident took place on September 1, when Chavan was near the Asian Heart Hospital, Bandra East. He received a call from an unknown man who said he had wrongly transferred Rs 30,000 into Chavan’s account and urgently needed it back as he was in the hospital.
“The caller also sent a fake credit message of Rs 5000. When Chavan checked his phone, he saw the message and believed it was genuine. He then transferred R5000 to the account provided by the caller,” said a police officer.
But the fraud didn’t end there. The caller sent Chavan a PhonePe link and asked him to double-tap and enter his PIN. The moment he did so, Rs 77,091 was debited from his account. When he questioned the caller, he was told to re-enter another code — ‘12012’. On doing so, more money was deducted, bringing the total loss to Rs 94,103.
Investigations later confirmed that no money had ever been deposited in Chavan’s account; the fraudster had simply used a fake credit message to trick him. Realising he had been duped, Chavan immediately registered an FIR at BKC police station under Sections 66(C) and 66(D) of the IT Act, 2000, and Sections 318(4) and 319(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
Police advisory
Always verify transactions by logging into your bank account, not by relying on SMS alerts.
Do not respond to money transfer requests from unknown callers.
Never share OTPs, PINs, or UPI codes.
Report such incidents immediately to the Cyber Helpline — 1930.
