Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (MS)
Bengaluru, Jan 25: Fraudsters have entered the online liquor business also. In an incident that occurred in the city a software engineer was conned of Rs 1.27 lac by a cheater, who asked for his credit card details and OTP to make payment.
According to Deccan Herald, the software engineer, who is 40-years old, who lost money in this fashion to the fraudster is Arjun Jagannathan, a resident of Yelenahalli. In a complaint that the techie filed with the police, he said that he was at his mother's house on January 19 for a get together. He thought of buying liquor online and when searching, found one with the address as Kothanur Dinne which also had contact phone number.
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The order of Jagannanthan was taken by a person, who said that he is a staff working in the said outlet. The amount of the purchase was Rs 1,500. The staffer who took Jagannath's order asked him to make online payment as he said that they do not have cash on delivery option. Jagannath believed the person who was speaking to him and gave his credit card details in order to make the payment.
The person, who was acting like a staff of the outlet, later asked the techie to share the OTP sent to his mobile in order to complete the payment. When Jagannath followed the method as per the conversation with the man acting as a staffer of the outlet, he got a message on his mobile stating that Rs 1,500 is debited from his account.
The person acting as staffer called the techie in a little while and said that there was some technical error and they have not received the payment and asked Jagannanthan to share the fresh OTP that is sent to his mobile. Believing the caller completely, Jagannathan told the caller the OTP number. Immediately a message flashed on techie's mobile that Rs 6,000 is debited from his account.
The series of technical glitches, as told by the person acting as a staffer, continued and Jagannathan kept on sharing the OTPs sent again and again to his mobile. At the end of this exercise, Jagannathan had lost Rs 78,742.
The caller was not done with the gullible techie. He called the techie once again and repeatedly apologized for the series of technical glitches and said that he will meet Jagannathan in person and return the money. However, he asked him to scan a Paytm QR code that he sent to his WhatsApp. The caller said that through this he can send the whole amount of Rs 78,742 back to the techie.
The techie, still unaware that he is taken for a ride, promptly scanned the QR Code sent by the caller and lost Rs 49,001 instantly. Then it flashed to the techie that he is conned by the caller and he disconnected the call and rushed to the police station to file a complaint. As it was a Sunday, he could file a formal complaint only on Monday, January 20.
Jagannathan requested the bank authorities to block his credit card and stop payments. However, the bank officials expressed their helplessness to stop the credit card payments and UPI transactions.
The Cyber police are trying to nab the fraudster. According to the initial investigation the bank account of the caller, who conned the techie, is said to be of Jammu origin.