A celebrity’s wife was cheated out of Rs 65,000 by unknown fraudsters who hacked her mother’s mobile phone and impersonated her to request money. The woman who works at a film production house, received a WhatsApp message from her mother’s number on November 15, requesting Rs 65,000.

The message also included a UPI ID to transfer the money. Trusting the message, she transferred the amount. However, minutes later, she received another message asking for an additional Rs 3,500. The language of the second message—a mix of Marathi and Hindi—made her suspicious. She immediately called her mother, who informed her that her phone had been hacked and similar fraudulent messages had been sent to all her contacts.