This story is from January 24, 2020

Woman loses Rs 1.4 lakh in Paytm KYC fraud

A woman who was asked to download an app to update her KYC (know your customer) ended up losing Rs 1.40 lakh from her bank account that was linked to her Paytm wallet.
Woman loses Rs 1.4 lakh in Paytm KYC fraud
Representative image
GURUGRAM: A woman who was asked to download an app to update her KYC (know your customer) ended up losing Rs 1.40 lakh from her bank account that was linked to her Paytm wallet.
According to police, the complainant, Komal Baluja, a resident of Central Park 1 in Sector 42, Golf Course Road, received an SMS from ‘BRPAY KYC’ in November last year stating that she would not be able to use her Paytm account if she did not complete a KYC update.
The message also contained a mobile number.
“Since I use Paytm quite frequently, I was concerned that my account will be blocked. I called on the number mentioned in the message to enquire about the same. The person who received the call explained that I needed to update my KYC,” said Baluja.
She explained to the person that she had already completed her KYC formalities at an authorised shop.
“The person told me that that KYC was not valid and will need to be done again. He assured me that by downloading a mobile application, TeamViewer QuickSupport, I can update my KYC from home,” Baluja said. She added that after downloading the app, she did not receive an ID for a Paytm login and, therefore, enquired from the person who then told her to download another app.
The man kept her engaged on the phone and asked to share an alternative number. “He called on my other number and kept guiding me about the KYC update through the app. I received a 10-digit code which he asked to share,” she said.

After that, she said she started getting multiple notifications with options like ‘allow’ and ‘deny’. “The commands appeared multiple times and I was asked by the person to click on ‘allow’ as it’s a short time-bound process, else the whole action would have to be repeated,” Baluja said, adding that throughout the process, the man kept asking her to switch between Paytm and QuickSupport.
“He told me not to exit the Paytm or the QuickSupport screen, else the process would be interrupted. So I did not check any notifications of new messages that were popping up,” she said.
Once the call ended, she found multiple notifications of transactions from her bank account. She immediately called the bank and blocked her account. Later, she received a notification stating that her Paytm account had been blocked. She claimed that no request was sent by her to block her Paytm account. On December 13, she approached police and after thorough investigation, a case was registered under sections 379 (theft) and 420 (cheating) of IPC at Sushant Lok police station on Wednesday.
“A case has been registered and investigation is under way,” said police spokesperson Subhash Boken.
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