Bombay High Court judge duped of ₹6 lakh in online credit card reward points scam

A sitting judge of the Bombay High Court has lodged a police complaint after being duped of over ₹6 lakh in an online credit card fraud. 

The Cuffe Parade police in Mumbai have registered a first information report (FIR) under the Information Technology Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.  

According to FIR, the judge was attempting to redeem reward points through an HDFC Bank credit card on February 28 when the fraud occurred. 

While at home, the judge searched online for the bank’s credit card customer care number, found a helpline that appeared in the results and called it, believing it to be genuine.  

The person who answered allegedly identified himself as a representative of the bank’s credit card department and offered to help the judge redeem the points.

The FIR notes that the caller then sent a link to download an application file via WhatsApp, and told the judge to install it and feed in the credit card details, to “process the rewards”. 

When the file could not be opened on an iPhone, the judge used another smartphone available at home, installed the application and entered the card information on a webpage that opened thereafter. 

“Immediately after submitting the details, I received mails on my registered email ID informing me of several transactions carried out on my credit card. This is when I realised I have been duped,” the judge states in the complaint, listing four high-value debits adding up to ₹6,02,566.

The judge immediately contacted the bank’s official customer care number to block the card. Thereafter, the judge called on the national cybercrime helpline and lodged a complaint on the portal before approaching the local police station. 

The police have booked unidentified persons under sections 66, 66C and 66D (cheating by impersonation) of the Information Technology Act and sections 3(5), 318(4) (cheating) and 319(2) (cheating by impersonation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).