In an attempt to procure a bill for the servicing of a high-end headphone purchased from an online portal, a 44-year-old manager lost over Rs 2.5 lakh recently. Police said that the manager had tried to get the bill for repairing his headphones and had contacted the customer care, who had asked him to wire Rs 7 as a processing fee. In the process, he lost Rs 2.5 lakh in a series of transactions. Subsequently, a case has been lodged at Gamdevi police station, wherein the accused has been booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and Information Technology Act.
According to police, the incident occurred over two months ago, when the victim, a transport manager, had a technical issue with his recently brought branded headphones. When he approached a service centre, they asked the complainant for an original bill, which he did not have, as the order for the headphones was placed on an e-commerce website. To procure the original bill, the victim searched for the website's customer care centre and contacted the customer care number displayed on it.
Upon calling, the man introduced himself as a cysteine care agent and attended the victim's query. The man then told the manager that, if he wants to get the original bill, he will have to pay Rs 7 as a processing fee. The complainant obliged and asked for the payment details. The man told him to download an application AnyDesk and share the OTP, after which he will have to enter the bank details.
"The complainant filled out the details but soon saw a message that ₹1.14 lakh was being debited from his account, which raised an alarm. The victim then called the customer care agent and enquired. The agent promised to reverse the money in another account and sought the other bank account details. The victim then lost another ₹1.41 lakh, after which he blocked the account," said an officer.
Acting on his complaint, Gamdevi Police registered a case of cheating against the unidentified person and booked him under relevant sections of the IPC and IT Act for cheating the complainant to the tune of ₹2.56 lakh. While the investigation is underway, the police is yet to identify the accused and make any arrests.
