Senior citizen loses Rs 8.3 lakh while shopping for towels online, full story

New instances Every day, fresh cases of online fraud emerge from various parts of the country, with cybercriminals devising new methods to deceive people and steal money, ranging from UPI fraud to SMS fraud. A senior citizen lost Rs 8.30 lakh while buying for towels online in a recent example of online fraud.

According to a recent PTI story, a 70-year-old woman from Mira Road ordered six towels online for Rs 1,160 from an e-commerce site. However, instead of Rs 1,169, Rs 19,005 was debited from her account after she completed the online payment. To report the incorrect transaction, the woman sought up the contact number and tried to phone the bank’s helpline number but was unable to reach the bank.

Soon after, she received a call from an unknown number, who claimed to be from the bank and offered her help with her recent online transaction problem. The man asked her to download an app for the refund.

The woman followed all the instructions given by the man to get help but ended up losing a sum of Rs 1 lakh from her account. Upon seeing the unauthorized transactions, the woman rushed to the police station; however, in the meantime, around Rs 8.3 lakh was further withdrawn.

“The money has gone into the account of an Uttar Pradesh resident. A case has been registered against unidentified persons. Further probe is underway,” the MBVV police’s cyber cell official added.

How scammer duped the woman

While cases of online fraud are not new, in this case of cyber fraud in particular, the scammer gained the trust of the woman by introducing themselves as a bank employee and later made her install an app which gave them access to her mobile phone.

After gaining remote access to the smartphone, the scammer obtained all the sensitive details like bank account number, OTP, and others and was able to successfully steal money directly from her bank account.

Notably, the bank helpline number she called was also not real, and after dialling the call, the scammers got her phone number. Additionally, the website from where she was ordering was also possibly fake and made her lose Rs 19,005.

This case is also an example of how cybercriminals can take advantage of unsuspecting individuals, especially seniors, who may not be familiar with the complexities of online transactions.