Miyapur women lost Rs 4 lakh to KYC update fraud; Cyberabad cops issue alert

Hyderabad: The cyber crime wing of the Cyberabad police issued an advisory on 10 September warning people against KYC frauds after a woman was cheated to the tune of Rs. 4 lakh.

On 1 September, Radhika (name changed), a resident of Miyapur, received a message asking her to renew her KYC on her PayTM account. She received instructions from a man, Vinay Sharma, who asked her to install the Quick Support app. The fraudster used the app to route all the messages to his number (8345989385).

He asked her to open her PayTM app and log in with her credentials. He then told her to transfer Re. 1 through her Axis debit card. She followed his instructions and later received a message saying that Rs. 1,46,747 was debited from her account. Another Rs. 2,82,613 was debited from her credit card.

She filed a complaint with the Cyberabad cyber crime police and a case has been booked under various sections of the IPC and Information Technology Act 2008.

According to the police, fraudsters contact PayTM account holders and ask them to update their KYC details claiming that otherwise, they will be unable to access their accounts. To update the details, victims are asked to download different remote access applications like Any Desk, Quick Support, and Team Viewer. Then the fraudsters ask them to transfer a nominal amount like a rupee, Rs.10, or Rs. 100 for verification.

When the customer transfers the money using his/her bank account details, the fraudsters use the above-mentioned apps to find the victim's account number. They then use the details to transfer money from the victim's account.

The cyber crime wing, in its advisory, warned people and asked them not to believe in messages or calls that ask them to update their KYC details. Do not reveal your account details to anyone and do not download any application without knowing its purpose and authenticity, it warned. The advisory also stated that people should not transfer money to accounts of unknown persons. “Your account details may be accessed by the fraudsters through the applications which you download without your knowledge and thereby you may be cheated,” the advisory read.