A 71-year-old woman from Bandra fell prey to a cyber fraud while attempting to return a dress she had purchased online for Rs 1,500. Instead of a refund, she ended up losing Rs 90,000 from her bank account after unknowingly contacting cyber criminals posing as customer service representatives.
According to the complaint lodged at Bandra Police Station, the senior citizen had ordered the dress through a shopping app but was dissatisfied with the product. On June 22, she searched for the customer care number of the shopping company on Google and dialed one of the numbers that appeared in the results.
She got in touch with a man who identified himself as Sahil Kumar. When she expressed her desire to return the dress and seek a refund, Kumar told her that she would receive a call shortly regarding the refund process.
Soon after, she received a call from a man who introduced himself as Amit Mishra. He asked her to open the Google Pay app and input some details for processing the refund. Trusting him, she followed his instructions. However, within a short span, she received a message notifying her that Rs 90,000 had been withdrawn from her account.
Shocked by the incident, she informed her daughter, who immediately called back the number in question to confront the caller. In response, the man threatened to kill her and even claimed he would blow up the building where she works in Mumbai.
Following the threats and the financial fraud, the woman lodged a formal complaint with the Bandra Police. Based on her statement, police have booked unknown persons under sections 66(C) and 66(D) of the Information Technology Act, sections 318(4), 319(2), and 351(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
Police officials are currently investigating the matter and have urged citizens to be cautious while contacting customer care numbers found through search engines, as cyber criminals often manipulate such listings to target unsuspecting victims.