If you are a customer of online shopping portals, you need to beware of fraudsters, who are calling people and duping them in the name of a lucky draw. A 25-year-old housewife from the Tulinj area in Nallasopara learnt it the hard way after she became the latest target of cyber crooks. The woman was duped of more than Rs. 53,000 under the guise of offering a free LED television.
In her statement to the police, the complainant who stays in the Achole Road area of Nallasopsra, said that she had ordered a shirt from the portal of an e-commerce platform, following which she received a call from a person who claimed to be an executive of the e-commerce portal on Monday.
The caller said that she was the winner of a branded LED television in the promotional lucky draw held on a random basis by the portal. Explaining the claim process, a person who identified himself as a senior executive of the online marketplace asked the woman to make a purchase of Rs. 5000 from the portal for eligibility and transfer Rs. 11,999 towards GST payment for the TV set.
Convinced by the offer, the complainant complied, but the caller claimed that owing to a technical glitch, she would have to pay another 12,009 which would be refunded back into her account in a few minutes.
However, the woman ended up paying a total of Rs. 53,002. Neither did the complainant receive a refund nor were the callers reachable. Realizing she was duped, a complaint was registered at the Tulinj police station. The police filed an FIR under the relevant sections of the IPC against the unidentified callers. Further investigations were under way.
