Journalism of Courage
Mumbai bizman falls for Netflix subscription fraud, loses over Rs 1 lakh
The 74-year-old shared his bank details in reply to an email purportedly sent by Netflix saying that his subscription has been kept on hold for non-payment of Rs 499, police said.
In a case of cyber fraud, a 74-year-old businessman from Juhu in Mumbai allegedly lost over Rs 1 lakh after he shared his bank account details in reply to an email purportedly sent by Netflix, an OTT platform, saying that his subscription has been kept on hold for non-payment of Rs 499, police said Wednesday.
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An FIR was registered at the Juhu police station on November 29 after the victim lodged a complaint stating that he lost Rs 1.22 lakh from his bank account.
According to police, the complainant who is into the import of plastic printing materials believed that the email he received from ‘Netflix’ on September 16 was genuine as it had stark similarities with the e-communications sent by the OTT platform to customers.
“The fraudulent email also provided a link to make a payment of Rs 499. Without thinking twice, the septuagenarian clicked on the link and filled in all his credit card details. A One Time Password (OTP) was generated on his mobile phone for payment of Rs 1.22 lakh,” a police officer said.
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He entered the OTP without noticing the amount for which he was sharing the OTP. Soon after, the amount was debited from his account, said the officer who added that the man realised that he was duped only after he received an automated call from his bank asking him to press ‘8’ if he had not made the payment of Rs 1.22 lakh.
Though the victim filed a complaint with the local police in September, he left the city for two months for business purposes. The businessman approached Juhu police on November 29 after which an FIR was registered.