Mumbai: Senior citizen cheated of Rs 49,000 on pretext of updating KYC by cyber fraudster
Mumbai, Apr 14: A 66-year-old journalist was allegedly cheated of Rs 49,000 by a cyber fraudster on the pretext of updating her KYC details in the western suburb of Khar here, police said on Thursday.
The fraud came to light when the woman journalist approached to the police to lodge a complaint on Tuesday, an official said.
According to the complainant, she received a call from a man posing as an executive of a mobile phone service provider company, who informed her that her SIM card had been blocked and she needed to update it, he said.
The caller told the complainant that he will help her update the KYC details, and she followed his instructions, he said.
The woman then downloaded the 'quick support' application and transferred Rs 10 from her bank account initially on the instructions of the fraudster, the official said.
As the transfer was complete, the victim found that Rs 49,000 were withdrawn from her bank account, in two transactions of Rs 24,000 and a transaction of Rs 1,002, he said.
An FIR under section 420 (cheating) of the IPC and relevant provisions of the Information Technology (IT) Act has been registered in this regard, he said.
A similar crime was reported in Thane's Kopari area two months ago, when a caller posing as a bank executive had cheated a senior citizen for Rs 5.4 lakh on the pretext of updating KYC, the official said, adding that further probe is underway in the case.
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Raj Thackeray questions need for NEET, demands Pradhan’s resignation
Mumbai (PTI): Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) president Raj Thackeray on Thursday questioned the need for NEET-UG and demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi seek the resignation of Union Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan.
Thackeray's demand comes amid massive protests over the cancellation of the examination following allegations of paper leak.
The MNS chief said the government is so “obsessed” with bringing everything under a centralised authority that it appears to make no difference if the lives of hundreds of thousands of people are thrown into “disarray”.
In a post on X, Thackeray said that for several years now, a single individual (Pradhan) has remained entrenched in the position of Union education minister. Despite numerous “irregularities” and “scandals” within the NEET framework during his tenure, this “gentleman” continues to occupy the post, he said.
“One wonders: has he been rewarded with this continued tenure because he is so zealously pursuing the agenda of imposing the Hindi language across the entire nation? I earnestly appeal to the Prime Minister: please demand the immediate resignation of this Minister of yours, who has repeatedly toyed with the lives and future of 22 lakh students,” Thackeray said.
The National Testing Agency on Tuesday cancelled the NEET (UG) 2026 exam held on May 3 amid allegations of paper leak, with the government asking the CBI to carry out a comprehensive inquiry into the “irregularities”. The examination for students seeking admission to undergraduate courses in medical colleges will now be held afresh on dates to be notified separately.
Thackeray said the Centre continues its tradition of creating “chaos” in every matter and holding the public to ransom. The “NEET paper leak” has proved this once again, he said.
Thackeray sought to know what the Centre did when it found out the alleged malpractice. It merely cancelled the examination and ordered a CBI inquiry, he said.
In 2024, a CBI inquiry was ordered in a similar case, but nothing substantial was achieved through it, he said.
The government projects an air of having fulfilled its duty in all of this. But what about the lives of 22 lakh students and their families, who have been left hanging in the balance, he asked.
Thackeray said fundamentally, there was no need to “impose” NEET (National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test)-UG back in 2016.
“However, this government’s obsession with bringing everything under a single, centralised authority is so intense that, to them, it seems to make no difference if the lives of hundreds of thousands of people are thrown into disarray,” he said.
The MNS chief also asked ministers within the Maharashtra government to show some “spine” and join voices with those of the southern states and oppose this system.
Thackeray said leaders from the southern states have voiced their opposition in much the same way as he. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Vijay has also demanded the cancellation of NEET. The reason for this is that the five southern states, combined with Maharashtra, collectively possess over 350 medical colleges, whereas the large states in the north have only 180 medical colleges, he said.
Consequently, this persistent push that began in 2016 is essentially an attempt to facilitate the “entry of students from the north into medical colleges in the south”, alleged Thackeray. To ensure this, the largest network of coaching classes has been established in the northern states, he claimed.
