UPI frauds don’t seem to stop at any point soon, and the ways of scamming people are newer each time.
There is yet another report of a UPI fraud, and this time, the victim was scammed during an attempt to book a table at the restaurant. The amount is also not minimal, the victim was scammed of a whopping Rs. 85000.
The cases of UPI frauds have been increasing at an alarming rate and there is always news of people losing money to a scammer over phone calls and SMSes is appearing every other week.
However, losing money over an attempt to book a table at a restaurant is quite unheard of, and here is the whole story about how a person was looted of a shocking amount of Rs. 85,000 in one go.
Woman Scammed of Rs. 85,000 While Booking Table At Restaurant
The victim is a 35-year-old woman, Manpreet Madan, who wanted to book a table at Mumbai’s popular restaurant Shiv Sagar, based in Santa Cruz. She and her family were on their way to Juhu Tara Road to the restaurant when she decided to book a table over the phone.
She looked up the phone number of the restaurant on Google and called on that number. Her calls went unanswered, however, she promptly received a call back from the same number.
UPI Scam With Fraud Customer Care Number: The Modus Operandi
This is where it all started. When she answered the call, the person from the other end posed as the staff from the restaurant, and revealed that his name was Deepak Mishra. Mishra said that there was a 45-60 minutes waiting period, which Madan could avoid by paying Rs. 25 through Google Pay
He said that she would receive a message on her phone which would be required to forward to another number. This number would send a link where the payment will need to be done.
When she did as was told, she received a second number that had a google page link that asked her to enter the PIN and submit the page. No sooner did she hit submit, instead of Rs. 25, as much as Rs. 85000 was deducted from her account. She alerted the police immediately, and also checked at the restaurant, where they told her that the number did not belong to them at all.
The restaurant said that they were aware of the fake number listed on Google, and had already made a formal complaint as well.
Stay alert, and stay vigil. Never share your UPI id with strangers, and unknown entities, and never share your pin.