Man Duped Over Rs. 3 Lakh Via Fake Vodafone Customer Care Agent

Online scams have become a nuisance in the modern days. Fraudsters often dupe the masses by disguising as bank representatives or customer care executives. And within just a week of this New Year, scammers have robbed off one such innocent customer. The modus operandi isn't much different from what we have seen in the past.

The victim is a 41-year old man resident of Kamothe, Navi Mumbai. The victim had received from a scammer claiming to be a Vodafone customer care executive. The call was concerning a new Vodafone plan and somehow the fraudster gained the trust of the victim into selling the new plan.

The fake agent was able to hack and get access to the victim's mobile data pack. Once the plan was activated, the fraudster shared a link with the victim and asked him to click and upload the 'signal network app'.

The scammer later sent two different texts to the victim from another number which according to him were to test the settings. Unaware of the situation, the 41-year old man later got to know about the two unauthorized transactions via his credit card.

The victim complained with the cyber-crime department where an FIR was filed after initial probing. Babasaheb Tupe, senior inspector Kamothe police station said, "After a complaint was filed with the cyber-crime cell initially, they conducted a preliminary probe and an FIR was registered on Sunday evening".

The man is said to have lost a whopping sum of Rs. 3.31 lakh from his credit card in this scam. It is currently unknown if there have been any developments in catching the fraudster and if the victim will get his money back.

How To Stay Safe?

Online frauds and scams like these have become quite common nowadays. Most of the time scammers posing as a digital payment platform's (Paytm, PhonePe, GooglePay) agents will convince you to click on a link. This is where you need to be cautious. Make sure you are speaking to a legit person and don't click on any random link.

Also, if you are asked to download any third-party app which can give remote access to the attacker is something you need to avoid. Make sure you don't give the access of your smartphone to any unknown person posing an agent or customer care representative.

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