A 40-year-old lady from southwest Delhi is accused of losing Rs 90,000 after being tricked by a “buy one thali, get another free” deal and installing an app as instructed by online scammers.
The complainant, Savita Sharma, has filed a FIR at the cyber police station.
Sharma, a senior executive at a bank, informed the police that she learned about the offer on Facebook from one of her cousins.
On November 27, 2022, she went to the website and called the number provided to learn more about the offer. Sharma said in her FIR filed on May 2 of this year that she didn’t get a response but did get a callback and “the caller asked her to get the offer of Sagar Ratna (a well-known restaurant chain)”.
“To take advantage of the deal, the caller offered a URL and requested that I download an application. Additionally, he gave the app’s user ID and password. He informed me that I must first sign up for this app in order to get the offer, Sharma told PTI.
“I clicked on the link, and the app downloaded,” she said. The user ID and password were then typed. I suddenly lost control of my phone as soon as I did it. It was hacked, and I later discovered that my account had been debited by Rs. 40,000.
Sharma said that a few seconds later she got a second SMS informing her that 50,000 rupees had been taken out of her account.
“I found it really shocking that the funds transferred from my credit card to my Paytm account and subsequently out to the account of the scammer. Sharma alleged, “I never gave any of these details to the caller, and I immediately blocked my credit card.”
Although the cyber police are looking into the incident, similar fraud instances involving thousands of rupees in losses have been recorded from other places.
A Sagar Ratna official acknowledged receiving several consumer complaints of this kind when contacted.
“We’ve had a lot of calls from folks complaining that they were scammed by someone advertising lucrative deals using our restaurant’s name. Since we never make offers to individuals via Facebook, we cautioned people to be on the lookout for any such profitable bargain, the spokesman said, adding that other cities’ cyber police are also looking into a related issue.
According to Sharma, who spoke to PTI, WhatsApp users are continuously sharing online links to these fraudulent offers, and if prompt action is not taken, many more individuals might become victims.
According to police, they are advising the general public not to download any applications or click on any links that originate from unidentified sources.
“Cybercriminals are coming up with innovative techniques to con people. A cybercrime investigator advised against clicking on any links or apps that came from unreliable or obscure sources.
