Bengaluru woman calls fake customer care for refund of clothes, loses Rs 1 lakh

Bengaluru: A Rs 441-refund query turned into a Rs 1-lakh nightmare for a 49-year-old woman, who lost money from two bank accounts after calling a number she mistook for an e-commerce company customer care helpline. The caller, posing as a customer care executive, guided her through a series of steps on her phone, ultimately duping her out of her savings.Homemaker Prema (name changed) told police she ordered clothes through an e-commerce site, but returned them as they did not fit her. The Horamavu resident requested a refund of Rs 441 a couple of weeks ago, which remained pending. On Oct 31, she searched the internet and found the number 8893978138 listed as the company’s customer care number and spoke to a person, who identified himself as Tushar Singh.The caller guided her through various steps to process the refund and asked her to click on a link and enter details. As the process was taking a long time, her phone screen went blank and displayed a message asking her to wait for the refund. Sensing something was wrong, Prema switched off her phone and removed her sim card.However, when she switched on the phone again, she noticed unauthorised transactions from her bank accounts: Rs 90,000 had been withdrawn from one of her accounts and Rs 15,000 from another one. The transactions took place between 11.14am and 11.17am on Oct 31. She told police Tushar Singh had siphoned off her money through a digital payment application.You Can Also Check: Gold Rate in Bengaluru | Silver Rate in Bengaluru | Bank Holidays in Bengaluru | Public Holidays in Bengaluru | Bengaluru AQI | Weather in Bengaluru | Petrol Price in Bengaluru | Diesel Price in Bengaluru | CNG Price in Bengaluru | LPG Price in BengaluruStay updated with the latest Bengaluru news. Download the TOI App.