Mumbai actor duped of Rs 77000 while booking doctor's appointment online

Mumbai: A Mumbai-based actor was allegedly duped of Rs 77,000 by a fraudster when he tried to book a doctor's appointment online, police said on Tuesday.  

Interestingly, the amount was deducted from the victim's bank account four days after he tapped on the fraudulent links and subsequently alerted the bank manager.  

The victim identified as Mohammad Iqbal alias Iqbal Azad, 59, stated in the FIR that he was searching for phone numbers for orthopaedic doctors based out in Dadar.

In the interim, Azad grew suspicious and promptly notified his bank manager.

"However, on Monday morning he received four SMSes on his mobile phone mentioning that Rs 77,000 was deducted from his bank account," the official added.

Azad claimed he immediately contacted the cyber helpline number 1930 after receiving the messages but failed to get through.

Police registered an FIR against an unidentified person under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) including 420 (cheating) and the Information Technology Act, news agency PTI reported.

Medical Dialogues team had earlier reported that following a fraudulent human trafficking and money laundering scheme, a doctor couple suffered a loss of Rs 8 lakh, but were able to recover Rs 5 lakh from the crime branch. According to the police, the fraudsters impersonated officers from the crime branch in Mumbai and the customer care officer from an international courier company.