A 54-year-old executive engineer with the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) lost Rs 7 lakh, days after his cell phone, containing his official number, was stolen. The fraudsters used an online payment application to siphon funds from his account in 18 transactions. An FIR on the case was registered on Monday at Hadapsar police station. According to the FIR, the incident took place over the first and second week of September, earlier this year. The complainant had gone to a market area at Gadital in Hadapsar on September 7 to purchase a Ganesh idol. Around the same time, the cell phone he was carrying, which had his PMC issued official number, was stolen. On the same day, the complainant reported the phone missing on the 'lost and found' portal of Pune city police and a complaint report of the same was generated. However, he could not block the cell number because he did not know the registered email address with it. Around a week later, he got to know that as many as 18 transactions had been made from his bank account though an online payment application using his phone number. The complainant subsequently approached the Hadapsar police station and an FIR was registered under provisions of the Information Technology Act and Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita related to cheating and impersonation. "We have launched a probe in the case. Probe suggests that these 18 transactions were made to individuals and businesses," said an officer from Hadapsar police station.
