Filmmaker and producer Boney Kapoor’s credit card has been used to carry out five fraud transactions that amount to nearly four lakhs in March this year. He has registered a complaint with the Amboli police station regarding the matter. According to the police station, the complaint was received from Kapoor’s assistant on Wednesday, 25th May.
“He has stated in his complaint that several transactions were made from his credit card without his consent or knowledge, collectively amounting to Rs 3.84 lakh,” said Senior Police Inspector Bandopant Bansode of the Amboli police station as reported by The Free Press Journal.
After receiving the complaint, the police has registered an FIR against unknown persons under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Information Technology Act. The police have identified five transactions and the incident came to notice when he received a call from his bank about pending credit card dues. After obtaining a few more details he identified the fraud and approached the police.
Talking about the investigation, Bansode said, “We are obtaining the Internet Protocol (IP) addresses of the devices from which the transactions were made, and other technical investigations have also been initiated. We are seeking assistance from the Cyber division.”
The accused is suspected of obtaining Kapoor's credit card PIN using phishing emails or texts. Such phishing messages are sent out to hundreds of people every day. These imitate legitimate bank messages in an attempt to trick victims into providing sensitive card information such as their PINs or net-banking log-in credentials. Skimmers, which are surreptitiously installed in ATM kiosks or used by personnel of commercial facilities such as hotels or businesses when consumers make credit card payments, could have also obtained the PIN.
According to the existing rules for investigating cybercrime, cases involving less than Rs 10 lakh are investigated by the concerned police station, with technical assistance from the regional cyber police station, whereas cases involving amounts of Rs 10 lakh or more are transferred to cyber police stations. Mumbai has five cyber police stations, one for each region, as well as a central police station at the Bandra-Kurla Complex.
