Three Residents Lose ₹2.44 Lakh In Online Fraud Through Fake Lehenga Ads, Credit Card Scam And Misleading Links In Bhopal

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Three residents of Bhopal were allegedly duped of a combined sum of Rs 2.44 lakh in separate online fraud incidents on Monday, with cybercriminals using a fake lehenga shopping advertisement, a credit card activation offer and misleading online links to target victims, said police officials on Tuesday.

In the first incident, a 55-year-old woman from Sant Asaram Nagar, Bagsewania, lost nearly Rs 1 lakh after responding to a YouTube advertisement offering lehengas at discounted prices.

She contacted the number mentioned in the advertisement and was asked to transfer Rs 1,745, including the product cost and additional charges.

When the fraudster repeatedly claimed that the payment had not been received, the woman was instructed to retry the transactions and add a zero before the amount. Following the instructions, she repeatedly transferred money until approximately Rs 1 lakh was debited from her account.

In another incident in Flower City, Bagsewania, a 25-year-old woman lost approximately Rs 98,000 after receiving a call from a person posing as a private bank employee.

The caller claimed her credit card had been deactivated and offered to reactivate it. Soon after she agreed, money started getting deducted from her credit card.

Separately, a 55-year-old hardware shop owner from Kohefiza lost Rs 46,500 from his bank account after searching online for a doctor's contact number. He allegedly clicked on advertisements and links appearing in Google search results. The next morning, he discovered the unauthorised debit.