‘Ordered milk, lost Rs 18.5 lakh’: Mumbai woman duped in online scam; clicking link exposed bank accounts

A 71-year-old woman from Mumbai allegedly lost Rs 18.5 lakh from her bank accounts after trying to order a litre of milk online, police said. The woman, who lives in Wadala, was duped of her entire savings earlier this month. On August 4, she received a call from a man who introduced himself as Deepak, an executive from a milk company. He sent her a link and asked her to fill in her details to place the order. Police said she was told to stay on the call and follow his instructions. The conversation lasted over an hour before she hung up. The next day, the same caller contacted her again and extracted more details. Days later, during a routine visit to her bank, the woman discovered that Rs 1.7 lakh had been withdrawn from one account. Further checks revealed that her two other accounts had also been emptied, amounting to a total loss of Rs 18.5 lakh. Investigators said the fraudster gained access to her phone after she clicked on the link. A case has been registered and the probe is underway.