Ahmedabad: What began as a seemingly harmless Facebook advertisement promising a “pensioner card” ended up costing an 89-year-old senior orthopaedist from Satellite Rs 2.7 lakh in a sophisticated cyberfraud that exploited mobile app permissions and call forwarding to siphon money from his credit cards.Satellite police registered an FIR after the veteran doctor, who continues to practise at a private hospital in Navrangpura, reported that fraudsters tricked him into downloading a mobile application, which investigators believe gave them remote access to his phone and banking communications.According to the complaint, the doctor noticed the Facebook advertisement on July 12 and sent a message expressing interest. Two days later, he received a phone call from an unidentified person who explained the purported benefits of the pensioner card and sought his banking details. Sensing something amiss, he disconnected the call.The fraudsters, however, persisted. Shortly afterwards, another caller contacted him through a WhatsApp video call, repeated the offer and sent him a link to download an application for further enquiries. Although the doctor became suspicious and ended the conversation soon after installing the app, the damage had allegedly already been done.Police said Rs 1 lakh was debited from one of his ICICI Bank credit cards soon after the application was installed. He also began receiving multiple one-time passwords (OTPs) on his mobile phone. On July 25, fraudsters allegedly withdrew another Rs 1.7 lakh from his second ICICI Bank credit card.During the inquiry, the doctor discovered that call forwarding on his mobile phone had been activated to another number, allowing the fraudsters to intercept calls and facilitate unauthorised transactions without his knowledge.The victim immediately reported the incident on the National Cyber Crime Helpline before approaching Satellite police.Police booked unidentified persons for cheating and cyber fraud. Investigators are analysing the phone numbers used by the accused, the digital payment trail and the mobile application downloaded by the victim to trace those behind the scam.
