A 54-year-old woman from Kandivali faced a major loss after attempting to buy a dress she liked from a Facebook reel. The dress, priced at Rs 1,300, turned into a scam when cyber fraudsters siphoned off Rs 1.38 lakh from her bank account across multiple transactions. Samta Nagar police have registered a case under fraud and IT sections and initiated a search for the unknown cyber criminals.
The complainant, a resident of Thakur Complex in Kandivali, lives with her husband, who works as an accountant at a private firm. On November 3, while at home, she came across a dress she liked on a Facebook page called "Sasta Bazaar" while watching reels. She contacted the provided mobile number to make a purchase. The person on the other end claimed to be the manager of "Sasta Bazaar" and offered to send her two dresses. He asked her to make an online payment of Rs 1,300 and sent a QR code for payment.
After scanning and transferring Rs 1,300, she noticed that funds were being debited from her bank account. When she informed her husband, he checked her e-wallet and found that Rs 1.38 lakh had been transferred from her bank account to multiple accounts over two days.
When she called the contact again, he reassured her that all the money would be refunded, but no refunds were made. Upon realizing the fraud, she reported the incident to the Samta Nagar Police, who have now registered a case against the unknown cyber scammers and launched an investigation.
The police have stated that efforts are underway to track down the suspects in this online scam.