Complaint of network problem ends with Bengaluru housewife losing ₹3 lakh to man posing as Vodafone Idea customer care executive RuskDesk

He persuaded the complainant to download an app through which he got access to her mobile phone. He then told her to pay ₹2 through a payment app. When she did that, he observed the process. The rest was easy, say police

Bengaluru 

A 50-year-old housewife in Bengaluru lost over ₹3 lakh to a cyber criminal who she came in contact with following a Google search to fix a poor network problem in her mobile phone. An FIR was registered at East Cyber Crime, Economic Offences and Narcotics (CEN) police station in Bengaluru. 

On June 22, the woman, a resident of Babusapalya in Bengaluru, was unable to talk properly over the phone. Fed up with the network problem, she did a quick Google search to find the customer care number of the service provider. The search result threw up a number (7980127290). On calling the number, she came in contact with a man who claimed to be a customer care executive of Vodafone Idea. 

On informing him about the problem, he instructed the woman to download RustDesk application. RustDesk is a remote access and remote control software, mainly used for maintenance of computers and other electronic devices. 

After the woman downloaded the software, she shared her screen with the ‘customer care executive’, giving him access to her phone. The ‘executive’ instructed the woman to pay ₹2 via Google Pay to 9583929517. The woman did as instructed. 

The police suspect that the the ‘executive’ was closely monitoring the Google Pay application when the woman was carrying out the transaction. Later, he took control of the app, and began to transfer money out of her accounts. He transferred ₹2.52 lakh in three different transactions through the payment app while the woman was unaware of what was happening on her mobile phone.

After emptying money from two bank accounts — one operated by the woman and another by her daughter, he moved swiftly to another account in a small finance bank, from which he removed ₹57,000.