“When internet fraudsters impersonate a business to trick you into giving out your personal information, it’s called phishing”.
As per the reports coming in from Bangalore, A woman complained to police that Rs 95,000 got deducted from her account after sharing her bank details on a link shared by Swiggy Go customer care executive.
The Scandal called troubles for Swiggy Go, an instant pick and drop services provider since it has recently launched its pilot in the city.
How Did This Happen?
According to sources, A resident of Indiranagar, Aparna Thakkar Suri, 47, had listed her phone to sale on OLX website. In response to her advertisement, Mohammed Bilal a prospective buyer contacted her. After confirmation with the buyer, Aparna used Swiggy Go app for delivering the phone to Mohhamed Bilal. He was supposed to pay online after getting the delivery of the phone.
As per the reports, around 8:45 PM, A Swiggy delivery boy picked up the phone from the service center as mentioned by Aparna. Around 11 PM, Aparna got a call from Bilal saying that the order was canceled and he did not receive the phone. When Aparna confirmed with the delivery boy he said that the order was canceled and the phone is in his office.
They also informed that Aparna did not give the complete address for delivery and she has placed this order with her son’s mobile no. After placing the order Aparna changed her sim and started using another sim. Her son’s mobile no was unreachable when another Swiggy executive tried to contact her on her son’s phone no.
On the other hand, Aparna was trying to call the customer care with her own number and asked about order status, but since the order was logged with her son’s phone no, they couldn’t locate the order as mentioned by Aparna.
To resolve the situation, Aparna tried to find Swiggy Go customer care on the internet and searched a vague phone no. The person who received the call understood the situation and asked her to place another order by paying Rs 3 through a link sent by him.
On clicking the link, she was asked to provide her bank details which included UPI PIN to five different numbers. She provided all these details as per the report.
After some time, she got a message from her bank saying Rs 95,000/- got deducted from her account. After realization, she tried to call that fake customer care no again but there was no response. Then She filed a complaint in Baiyappanahalli police station where police have filed a case under the IT Act.
Swiggy Go Comes Clean From The Situation
Clarifying the situation Swiggy spokesperson said that Aparna had been “cheated by somebody else, not Swiggy”. He also informed that they tried to file a complaint but police turned it down saying they are not in the offending side.
He said “This an unfortunate case of fraudsters who are publicizing themselves through fake customer care numbers of prominent brands on dubious websites created by them. In recent times, a lot of defrauded customers have been escalating such issues across platforms and law enforcement agencies”.
He also added “At Swiggy too, we make attempts to file complaints when such an instance comes to our notice. However, these are not always registered by the officials on grounds of us not being the injured party. We would like to stress that Swiggy never requests its users to share their personal bank details and advises them to always connect to customer care through the Swiggy app or via email”.
We will keep you updated, as more details come in.