Mumbai, May 29 (IANS): The Mumbai Police has released a black-list of fraudulent helpline numbers on which tipplers placing online orders for liquor have been cheated, mostly by scamsters operating in Rajasthan, Assam and Haryana, an official said on Friday.

A majority of these so-called 'helpline numbers' -- 73 of them -- identified by the Cyber Police investigations so far which customers pick up randomly are based in different states in the country.

The fraudulent telephone numbers include: Rajasthan (24), Assam (20), Haryana (13), Uttar Pradesh (6), Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal (3 each), and one in Karnataka.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Cyber Crime) Vishal Thakur said in the ongoing lockdown, many gullible people ordering liquor online have become victims of various types of cyber frauds.

One of the reasons is that customers do not visit the genuine or authentic numbers to place their orders, but make random Google searches to pick up so-called helpline numbers posted by the scamsters intentionally.

"Many citizens are getting duped in various ways when they call up these numbers to purchase liquor online. There have been several online payment scams recently in Mumbai and many customers have lost huge money," Thakur said.

In view of the growing number of frauds, the Association of Progressive Retail Liquor Vendors (APRLV) has decided against accepting any online payments through Google Pay, PayTM, etc. for liquor sales.

"We are not accepting any online payments for liquor as there have been many online frauds in which customers have lost lakhs of rupees. The wine shops are accepting cash on delivery and providing card machines only after delivery," said APRLV Vice-President Sumit Chawla.

The APRLV has appealed to people to be aware of such scams and take adequate precautions if any wine shop demands online payment before delivery of the stocks.