Bombay High Court Judge Loses Rs 6.02 Lakh in Credit Card Scam After Calling Fake HDFC Helpline

A sitting judge of the Bombay High Court lost Rs 6.02 lakh in a credit card fraud after calling a fake HDFC Bank helpline found online, installing an app from a WhatsApp link, and entering card details, leading Mumbai police to register a cyber fraud case under the IT Act and BNS.

Backstory of the Scam

The Cuffe Parade police in Mumbai have registered an FIR under the Information Technology Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

According to the FIR, the incident happened on February 28 when the judge was trying to redeem reward points from an HDFC Bank credit card. While searching online for the bank’s customer care number, the judge found a helpline number in the search results and called it, believing it to be real.

The person who answered the call pretended to be a bank representative and said he would help with redeeming the reward points.

During the fake redemption conversation, the caller sent a link on WhatsApp and asked the judge to download an application and submit the credit card details to process the rewards.

The file could not be opened on the judge’s iPhone, so the judge used another smartphone at home to open the link, installed the application, and entered the credit card information on a webpage that appeared.

Soon after submitting the details, the judge received emails about several transactions made on the credit card. At that moment, the judge realised that the card details had been misused. The complaint states that four transactions were made, totalling Rs. 602,566.

The judge immediately contacted the bank’s official customer care number to block the credit card. The judge also reported the incident to the national cybercrime helpline and filed a complaint on the cybercrime portal before going to the local police station.

The police have registered the case against unknown persons under Sections 66, 66C, and 66D of the Information Technology Act, which deal with cyber fraud and impersonation. The case also includes Sections 3(5), 318(4) (cheating), and 319(2) (cheating by impersonation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).