Woman attempts to recharge set-top-box online in Mumbai, ends up losing Rs 81,000

Mumbai: In another case of cyber fraud, a 47 year old woman from Mumbai recently lost Rs 81,000.

Reportedly, after facing certain issue in the set-top-box she wanted to recharge the same. She recharged with an amount of Rs. 931. However, for reason unknown she did not receive any confirmation message regarding the recharge. Also, the newly recharged amount did not reflect.

To know the status of the payment/recharge, she then moved to Google search to get a customer care number so that she can confirm status of the payment. Unfortunately, she came across a phone number which she believed that the genuine number of the company, but it was a fake number.

She then reportedly called on that number. While immediately nobody answered the call, the following day someone called her from that number and introduced himself as the customer care agent. Believing him to be a genuine agent, the woman then shared her issue to him and in return he asked her to download a remote access App.

Then, as soon as the woman downloaded the said app, she started to get OTPs and invoices. After a while she noticed that she has fallen victim of a cyber-fraud and she has lost Rs 81,000 in total through a number of transactions. The woman has lodged a complaint in this matter with Cyber Police.

It is to be noted that despite awareness by Police and other officials people are falling victim to cyber crimes. Even educated people are sometimes becoming the victim. In this case, what it seems, after downloading the app (after getting trapped by the cyber fraud and believing it to be genuine) the miscreant on the other side managed to clone and take over control of the woman’s phone. He then using her credentials and OTPs looted the money.

Another thing to be observed that the lady surfed on the internet and got a number that was fake, but she believed it to be genuine. Here, people should be cautious to find the genuine number of a company. It is advised to always visit the official website of a company to find a genuine number. We should note that miscreants can make a fake phone number appear in the front page of a search engine. So, it is our task to find out the genuine number. Also, when making a call, we should examine first that whom we are talking is genuine or not. And lastly, if someone asks you to download an unknown app or click to a link we should not do it, because the fraudster can take control on your mobile through it.