Mumbai man tries paying ₹400 e-challan, loses ₹60,000 to fraud!

e-Challan fraud: A traffic challan for a Mumbai citizen became too expensive when he ended up losing ₹60,000 to frauds. The man reportedly wanted to pay his traffic challan of ₹400 but he ended up losing a lot more than that. It is unknown as to how the man ended up going to the wrong website. A case has been lodged with the police.

SB Wakase, who is a driver for the BEST buses in Mumbai, said that he initially paid his traffic challan of ₹400 for his four wheeler. The victim says that after the money was transfer was done, his payment app's e-wallet did not show the transaction. After he worried about the payment, he reached out to the customer care number that was provided to him.

e-Challan fraud makes BEST bus driver latest victim

"The victim contacted the said number which was answered by a fraudster who claimed to be the customer care executive. On the pretext of refunding the money to the victim, the accused induced the victim to share his debit card details, made him download a remote access control application and OTPs which the victim had received. The victim ended up losing ₹60,000 in four different transactions," said a police officer in a report of The Free Press Journal.

A case has been filed with the Trombay police under sections 419 (Punishment for cheating by personation) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code and sections 66C (punishment for identity theft) and 66D (punishment for cheating by personation by using computer resource) of the IT Act.

Sadly, the report does not mention how Wakase ended up sending the money to the wrong address in the first place. The incident once again throws light on some glaring mistakes that one shouldn't do while making online transactions.

-Never share your bank details and other key credentials with any person. No government agency asks for bank details while you make a payment.

-Never install any app sent from someone unknown over a message. Whether you are using an Android phone or iPhone, you should always download your apps only from the Google Play and Apple App Store respectively.

-Never share any bank OTP message with anyone. The OTP is meant to be seen only by you.