‘Mumbai: Online fraud by showing false ads increasing,’ court rejects bail to man

An FIR was filed by the N M Joshi Marg police on charges of cheating and relevant sections of the Information Technology Act based on the complaint of a woman who said that in January this year she had received an advertisement on her WhatsApp about being given access to a diners club through her credit card facility. She received a call from a man posing to be a relationship manager of a bank giving her details about the card and she agreed to sign up for it looking at the benefits.

She was sent a phone as part of the benefits. The phone had a link she was asked to open and fill information on. This led to her bank account being hacked and an amount of Rs 3 lakh being transferred towards purchase of gold by the accused and it was later transferred further to another accused.

The accused, Ayyappan Murgeshan, claimed to have been falsely implicated and said he had not been shown to be a beneficiary of the amount. He also said the probe is completed and hence he should be released on bail. The police opposed the bail stating that the offence is serious.

“From the case papers, it is seen that initially the accused hacked the bank account of the informant and purchased gold ornaments and thereafter sold the same and distributed the amount between applicant and co-accused. The cases of online fraud by showing false advertisements on social media are increasing. The accused has failed to make out ground to enlarge him on bail,” the court said.