Hyderabad doctor conned of ₹1.41 lakh while ‘screen sharing’

Hyderabad doctor conned of ₹1.41 lakh while ‘screen sharing’

‘Advanced payment’ for medical examination of 90 women cadets (students at an alleged police academy) by a fake army official landed a Hyderabad-based woman doctor in a ₹1.40 lakh scam.

The amount was debited from the victim’s ICICI Bank account while she shared her GooglePay screen with the fraudster.

According to the police, the fraudster contacted the victim, a 49-year-old resident of Hyderguda, on February 2 via WhatsApp, claiming that he intends to send women cadets to her clinic for general examinations and medical certifications. He further stated that the consultation fee would be paid in advance and that an army colonel would handle the transaction.

Immediately, the doctor received a video call in which another man dressed as an army colonel instructed her to provide her bank account details so that ₹37,000 could be credited for the medical examination of 90 lady cadets at a rate of ₹400 per person. To gain her trust, the fraudster initially transferred ₹10 into her ICICI Bank account and asked her to verify the deposit. He then claimed that the full amount would be transferred via GooglePay and requested her to share her mobile screen.

The victim complied with the request, allowing the fraudster to access her screen. While she was engaged in the conversation, the scammer initiated three unauthorised transactions to his ICICI credit card. At no point did she receive any alert calls from ICICI Bank or any OTPs confirming the transactions. The fraud only came to light when the scammer asked her to check if another amount had been credited. Upon reviewing her i-Mobile banking statement, she discovered that ₹1,40,972 had been debited from her account.

“Fraudsters installed a UPI application on their device using the victim’s mobile number. This app is then activated using the OTP sent to the number, visible on the victim’s screen. In this case the fraudster typed in the OTP, and app automatically fetched data related to the ICICI Bank account connected with the number. Transactions were authorised without victim’s knowledge,” said Hyderabad Cybercrime Inspector Satish Reddy.

Realising that she had been duped, the victim immediately contacted the ICICI Bank to block all her bank cards and verify her account, which confirmed the unauthorised deduction. She then lodged a complaint with the police.