Delhi Woman Robbed Of Rs 1 Lakh After A Google Search Went Wrong
Do not trust the search results blindly. There are fraudsters lurking around.
Google search engine is a platform – You search for something, and thousands of listings are made available to you. Keep in mind, that not all search results are genuine, and there can be fraudsters and cheaters lurking around.
A woman recently lost Rs 1 lakh, after one such Google search went wrong. Horribly wrong.
Woman Robbed of Rs. 1 Lakh
We turn to Google to find a solution to any of our problem, be it a recipe or to fix an electronic device malfunction.
In this shocking incident, a woman from the Seemapuri region of East Delhi, who is an employee of a private company was facing a technical issue in her e-wallet. She too, like every one of us, searched for a customer care number on Google Search Engine without the least doubt.
But she was in for a shock with the series of events that followed!
She called a customer care number available on Google to inquire about a wrong transaction in her e-wallet account. When her call was received, she assumed it was a Customer Care Executive, who promised her a full refund of the money wrongly transacted.
She went on to share with him all the details of her debit card. What she was not aware of, was that she was talking to a fraudster in the clever garb of a ‘customer care executive’ of the e-wallet company.
Within minutes, she realized that she was robbed of a complete Rs. 1 lakh from her account.
A Similar EPFO Fraud
This is not the first time innocent people were scammed from using information available on Google Search Engine. Previously, a certain someone who called himself ‘Deepak Sharma’, called up people asking for their PAN or Adhaar card details while claiming to be from the EPFO (Employees’ Provident Fund Office).
He also saw to it that the Google Search Engine displayed the phone number from which he called up people with the intention of duping them.
On Google Search portal, there is an option to edit phone numbers of any company or any bank.
Con artists take disadvantage of this and edit it to their phone numbers as people trust Google blindly and believe those numbers to belong to the organization they want to contact.
On getting such calls, these scammers ask for personal and important details under the pretext of ‘verifying the caller’. Sometimes, they also conduct fake IVRs to fool the caller into believing that call is real.
Precautionary Measures:
Google has been notified about this issue, but the ‘Open to Edit’ option is still available on Google.
However, if you get any such phone calls, make sure to remember:
- Do not divulge your PAN, Adhaar details to anyone on the telephone.
- If possible, try and record such phone calls (there are a lot of apps available) – they can serve as evidence.
- Refer to the numbers available on the specific websites of the organization you are trying to get into touch with.
- Do not, under any circumstances share your ATM card details or ATM Pin with anyone who asks for it.
