The accused told the senior citizen to install the RustDesk app from Google Play to get more information about mutual fund investment.
| Photo Credit: Photo for representation only
A 70-year-old resident of Mary Hill in Mangaluru and a 30-year-old businessman from Laila village in Belthangady taluk are the latest victims of cyber fraud. The elderly resident lost ₹4.06 lakh while the businessman lost ₹57,801.
In the complaint filed with Kankanady Town Police Station in Mangaluru, the elderly citizen said he recently started investing in mutual funds. While researching about mutual fund investment on the internet, he called a phone number (7908630677) at 10.30 a.m. on August 10. The person at the other end told the senior citizen to call another number.
When he called the number, a woman answered and spoke about mutual fund investment. A few minutes later, she called from another number (9382833128), and asked the senior citizen to install the RustDesk app from Google Play to get more information about mutual fund investment.
RustDesk is a screen sharing app. It enables you to share your phone screen with other people.
Soon after installing the app, the senior citizen’s mobile phone showed an error. Later, around 4.30 p.m., he received an SMS about withdrawal of ₹2 lakh from his account in Bank of Baroda, ₹ 1.43 lakh and ₹35,8000 from his two SBI accounts, and ₹26,998 from his Indian Bank account.
How businessman lost money
The businessman from Laila village had problem in operating the PhonePe app to which his Bank of Baroda and Axis Bank credit cards were linked. While searching for the helpline on Google, he got the number 08918924399. He called the number on July 9 at 10.50 a.m. The person who answered cut the call, but called back from another number (01725644238). After hearing about the problem, he — the fraudster — took details of the two accounts before asking the businessman to install the RustDesk app.
The businessman installed the app. On the request of the fraudster, the businessman opened PhonePe and scanned the front and back of the Bank of Baroda and Axis Bank credit cards at 11.35 a.m. Soon after, ₹29,998 got deducted via the Bank of Baroda credit card, and ₹27,803 via the Axis Bank credit card.
The businessman filed a complaint on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal on July 25. The Belthangady police registered an FIR on July 31.
Cyber expert Ananth G. Gurupur cautions people against installing screen sharing apps, like RustDesk. He advised against taking advice from persons claiming to be representatives of legitimate companies and also as technical support executives. He also cautioned against clicking on links in emails or text messages from unknown sources. “If you are not sure if a website is legitimate, you can always check with the company directly,” he said.