Man duped of Rs 13 lakh on pretext of KYC update

A top executive of a company based at Ambernath in Thane district of Maharashtra was allegedly duped of Rs 13 lakh on the pretext of updating his Know Your Customer (KYC) information on an e-commerce payment system, police said on Sunday.

The 60-year-old victim, who resides at Vartak Nagar here, has lodged a complaint with the police, based on which a case was registered against two persons, identified as Rahul Sharma and Rohit Sharma, an official said.

"The victim is a managing director of a machinery manufacturing company. A few days back, he got a call on his mobile and the callers (Sharmas) told him that they need some information as the KYC of his Paytm account needs to be updated. Believing them, he provided the information to them," the official of Vartak Nagar police station said.

"They also asked him to make a token transaction of Re one from his Paytm account for verification. He did so. However, on December 24- he received a series of messages on his phone informing him that Rs 13,09,911 had been deducted from his two bank accounts linked to Paytm," he said.

A case has been registered against the accused duo under IPC sections 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) and the Information Technology (IT) Act, police said.