Man inquires about missing food order, loses ₹2.25 lakh
A 40-year-old businessman from Borivli who had ordered food products online was scammed of Rs 2.25 lakh when he shared his bank details with a fake customer care executive. The complainant had called on a fake helpline number which he found via a search engine, to ask about two bhujiya packets worth Rs 400 that he had ordered but not received.
A first information report (FIR) was registered by the Borivli police station on Saturday and the case is being investigated by the state cyber police.
According to the Borivli police, on April 22, the complainant had ordered groceries from a retail website. While he received all the products, he did not get two bhujiya packets worth Rs 400 which he had ordered.
On May 1 the businessman searched for a helpline number of the grocery website online and got a fake number which had been uploaded by a cyber-fraudster. When he called on the number, the fraudster asked the businessman to give his bank account number, registered mobile number, and the three-digit CVV of his ATM card.
The fraudster then sent him a link and asked him to forward it to another mobile number. He then asked the complainant to pass on his UPI pin and the subsequent OTP received. Within two hours, four transactions were made from the complainant’s account and a total of Rs 2.25 lakh was withdrawn.
Ritesh Bhatia a cybercrime investigator said, “The fraudster was successful in setting up the UPI account on his device by convincing the victim to share his banking details. The fraudster also had the card details and hence, was successful in withdrawing such large amounts within seconds. It’s surprising to know that people still don’t hesitate to share OTP s and CVV numbers.”
Harish Baijal, deputy inspector general of state cyber police, said that cyber fraud has been on the rise during the lockdown as more people are shopping online. “There has been a spurt in such cases and fraudsters are adopting new modus operandi to dupe people during the lockdown. People need to be careful. We keep issuing advisories and create awareness through our Twitter handle,” he said.