Sr Citizen Says Fraudster Had Info Of His Purchases On Fashion Site

Mumbai:

A senior citizen who had e-shopped from a fashion portal last month did not think twice before parting with money when he got a call purportedly from a company representative with a tempting offer. He also gave away his Aadhaar details and OTP only to find out later that he had been duped of Rs 11,000. A cheating case has been registered at MIDC police station.

The sexagenarian is a Bandra resident. On Saturday, he was at his son’s office in Andheri when he got a call. “The caller said he was a representative of Jabong. He was aware of an Adidas shoe purchase that I had made from the e-commerce portal with details of the date of shopping and amount. I had no reason to not trust him. He then made an offer that if I made a fresh purchase of Rs 11,000 from the fashion portal, I’d get an expensive gift. I asked him to send me details. He texted me a list of five expensive products of which I could choose one gift,” the senior citizen said. He selected an iPhone7 from the portal and sent a screenshot of the product to the caller.

“I got a call again and was told to pay for my fresh purchase only through the digital wallet, PayTM. The caller said I would get a 40% cashback if I did so. I paid Rs 11,000 but there was no cashback. For an hour thereafter, the caller kept me on phone. My Aadhaar number was sought to send me the iPhone7. I shared it and also the OTP I got on phone,” the senior citizen said.

The phone calls wouldn’t cease until evening. “The caller wanted me to pay Rs 10,000 more as GST on the iPhone7. This time, I got in touch with the customer care on phone. But the executive said no such offer existed. When I asked how the conman procured details of my purchase on Jabong, the executive said their system might have been hacked,” the senior citizen said.

He complained to PayTM and demanded a refund. In an email, PayTM said the money transfer was approved as Aadhaar and OTP details were shared. The money had gone to an Allahabad Bank account in Bengal and could not be refunded.