70-year-old loses ₹7.53 lakh in online scam attempting to cancel mobile phone order

Mumbai: A 70-year-old resident of Ghatkopar fell victim to an online scam, losing ₹7

Mumbai: A 70-year-old resident of Ghatkopar fell victim to an online scam, losing ₹7.53 lakh while attempting to cancel an online order for a mobile phone purchased on an e-commerce platform just three days ago.

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The victim, Ajay Singh, initiated the purchase of a Samsung Galaxy M-34 5G on December 3 through Amazon, expecting delivery by December 5. When the phone failed to arrive as scheduled, Singh, concerned about the delay, sought assistance by contacting Amazon’s customer care through a Google search

On December 5, Singh received a call purporting to be from Amazon Customer Care, with the caller explaining a delay due to a personal emergency. The fraudster, posing as an Amazon representative, advised Singh to cancel the order for an immediate refund, providing a link for the cancellation process.

Singh proceeded to share his GPay details for the refund. However, the scam took a severe turn as the fraudster claimed a technical fault and guided Singh to download an app. The victim followed the instructions by opening his Gpay as well as savings bank account app. This granted the scammer access to his GPay, savings account, and HDFC credit cards. The fraudster executed five transactions, debiting a total of ₹1.44 lakh from Singh’s savings account. Subsequently, the perpetrator accessed Singh’s HDFC credit cards, conducting 17 transactions amounting to ₹5.31 lakh. The scammer continued this by debiting ₹18,000 and ₹10,000 from Singh’s HDFC savings account. The victim lost a total of ₹7.53 lakh, said a police officer.

Upon realising the scam, Singh informed his family, leading to the registration of a case at Park Site Police Station on Wednesday.