Elderly Bengaluru man loses Rs 61,000 via UPI after phone pickpocketed on bus

A 78-year-old man lost Rs 61,000 from his bank account after his mobile phone was allegedly stolen while he was travelling on a state-run bus in Electronic City on October 27, the police said. The mobile phone went missing when the resident of Parappana Agrahara was travelling with his granddaughter to Indira Gandhi Hospital in Siddapura.

According to the complaint filed on October 28, the man boarded a Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) bus from the Hosaroad bus stop around 9.30 am. Shortly after boarding, he noticed his mobile phone, which he had kept in his shirt pocket, was missing.

Despite enquiring with fellow passengers, he could not trace it. He continued to the hospital, where he left his granddaughter with his daughter and informed her about the theft. His daughter then told him that she had transferred money to his bank account to pay her daughter's school fees.

Since the stolen phone did not have a password, she asked him to check his bank account. He subsequently visited a bank branch in Naganathapura, where he discovered that money was allegedly transferred to two different accounts.

"On the same day, I found that Rs 50,000 had been deducted from my bank account once through UPI and again Rs 11,000," he stated in his complaint. The man's daughter contacted the cybercrime helpline 1930 and later lodged a police complaint.

The family approached the Electronic City police, seeking action against those responsible for stealing the phone and carrying out the unauthorised transactions. "Based on the complaint, we have registered a theft case and are investigating the matter," a police officer said.