ACTOR LOST MONEY TO CYBER FRAUDSTER FOR THE SECOND TIME IN LESS THAN FOUR MONTHS

MUMBAI: A fraudster fraudulently transferred a total of Rs4.98 lakhs from the nationalised bank account that is jointly owned by Bollywood and television actor Rakesh Bedi (69) and his wife Aradhana (59) on Friday. The Oshiwara police, who registered the case, stated that it was a single transaction carried out to siphon the money.

The fraudster successfully transferred the funds without requiring a one-time password (OTP) or any link shared with Bedi's wife. "We have got in touch with the bank's nodal officer to block the account to which the money was credited after siphoned from Bedi's account. The cyber wing of the police station is attempting to trace the money trails to all the banks where it has been credited,” said a police officer from the Oshiwara police station.

The officer mentioned that this is a distinctive method of operation where the fraudster did not acquire any data through links, remote access, or OTP to commit the fraud. Bedi's spouse, Aradhana, did not answer the call from TOI, while the actor mentioned that he would respond later.

In the complaint, Bedi's wife said: "I was at my Andheri (West) home when I received at least five calls from an unknown number at 7.15 pm on Friday. But, I did not respond to the calls. Finally, I attended the sixth call and the caller informed that his account has been wrongly credited with Rs4,98,694.50 that was debited from account. The person informed that an OTP has been sent to my mobile and asked to share the same. I immediately disconnected the call suspecting something amiss."

An officer from Oshiwara police mentioned that the wife of the actor examined her text messages on the mobile and observed an OTP notification. "She immediately logged into netbanking and noticed Rs4.98 lakhs has been debited from the joint account despite not sharing any details. The situation is unique because the fraudster managed to transfer the funds without the actor's wife sharing any confidential banking information or OTP,” said the officer.

In December 2023, Bedi was deceived of Rs85,000 by an individual who falsely claimed to be a member of the army and expressed interest in purchasing his Pune flat valued at Rs87 lakhs. The individual requested Bedi to transfer the funds under the pretense of transferring double the amount, citing restrictions on direct fund transfers from an Army account. The Oshiwara police filed a case on December 30 after Bedi discovered that he had been deceived.