In a shocking incident, a 67-year-old woman was duped of ₹98,202 after she called a fake customer care number that appeared on Google while searching for help to repair her refrigerator.
According to the police, the complainant, a homemaker, searched for Samsung India Customer Care on Google on 7 August after her refrigerator stopped working. She found a mobile number listed online and called it. The person on the other end asked her to connect via WhatsApp call, then sent her a link and instructed her to click on it and share her screen.
She was then told to transfer a nominal ₹5 for verification. However, following the instructions, ₹98,202 was transferred from her Bank of Maharashtra account to another account. The complainant stated that the fraudster even asked her to enter the first five digits of her mobile number while making the payment, after which the entire amount was debited from her account.
When no mechanic arrived and she received no confirmation message, the woman again searched online and contacted the genuine Samsung customer care. It was then that she realised she had been cheated. She immediately lodged a complaint at the police station.
In her statement, the complainant mentioned that the unknown person used her banking and mobile data to carry out a fraudulent transaction under the guise of sending a mechanic, resulting in a significant financial loss. The police have launched an investigation and are working to trace the cyber fraudster.