Bollywood assistant director loses Rs 3.4 lakh to KYC fraud

The assistant director had opened a link sent from an unknown number and put in the important information, like his account number, PAN card number and Aadhaar number. Soon after, he received multiple messages about money withdrawn from his bank. (Representational image)

A man working in Bollywood as an assistant director lost Rs 3.39 lakh after online fraudsters duped him on the pretext of updating the Know Your Customer (KYC) details of his bank, police said on Thursday.

The victim, Chetan Desai, said in his complaint that he received a message last week from a number not known to him, which stated that his bank account had been closed, an official of Oshiwara police station said.

He immediately called the sender of the message, who told him that the account was closed due to incomplete KYC details. He also asked Desai to update the information and sent a link for it.

Soon after the victim opened the link and put in the important information, like his account number, PAN card number and Aadhaar number, he received multiple messages about money withdrawn from his bank, the official said.

He lost a total of Rs 3.39 lakh, following which he approached the police and lodged a complaint, he said.

Efforts are underway to trace the bank to which the money was transferred, he added.

Last month, an 86-year-old woman from south Mumbai lost more than Rs 20 crore of her savings over two months to a 'digital arrest' fraud.

One of the fraudsters posed as a 'CBI officer' to extort money from the woman, they said, adding three persons have been arrested in connection with the crime which took place between December 26, 2024 and March 3 this year. The accused had also forced the victim to stay at home for two months and to check her location daily by calling her every three hours, an official said.

The cyber police have managed to freeze Rs 77 lakh belonging to the woman by identifying the bank accounts to which the money was transferred, he added.