Retired officer trying to get refund of air ticket has been cheated of 4.5 lakhs. Such frauds are becoming common. Know how to avoid them.
New Delhi. A case of big online fraud has come to light with a retired IAS officer in Mumbai. Retired officer trying to get refund of Air Tickets has been cheated of 4.5 lakhs. Due to the new cases of cyber fraud coming every day, it is now necessary to be very careful while using the internet. You imagine what will happen to the common man when people who have been IAS officers also become victims of cyber criminals. For this reason News18Hindi has run a series of news on cyber frauds to make people aware. You must read this series ( series link ), so that you know about all types of fraud and ways to avoid it.
How did you get cheated in the name of canceling air tickets?
The victim of fraud is a retired IAS officer. He has worked as the Additional Chief Secretary of Maharashtra. At present his age is about 70 years. He had booked air for himself and his family for Kolkata. This ticket was for round trip (in and out).
Later for some reason his plan changed and the booking got canceled. According to a Times of India news, after the cancellation of the ticket, they started the process of refund (Rs 33,000). He searched online through the travel company through which he had booked. They found a website. On the information given for contact on this website, he contacted thinking that it is the right website. But unfortunately this website was not correct.
Asked for credit card details
When he called on the given number, the person speaking from the front said that he would be given full help. For this, you will have to share your credit card details so that your refund can be transferred there. Since the retired officer had read and heard in many places that credit card information should not be shared with anyone, he refused to give this information. People sitting for fraud are ready for any kind of situation. If one maneuver does not work, the other will go and similarly many maneuvers are kept ready in advance.
Since the credit card maneuver did not work, the person on the other side of the phone asked the retired officer to download a screen sharing app. Perhaps he had not read or heard about such frauds, so he agreed with it. He installed screen sharing app. After this he came to know that a fraud of Rs 4 lakh 50 thousand has happened with him.
What happens after downloading the app?
Screen sharing app means giving control of your phone to another person. As soon as that thug would have got control of the phone in his hand, he would have seen all the logins and passwords saved in the phone and then blew away four and a half lakh rupees from his account. Now in this case the retired officer has given a complaint to the police. Police have registered a case.
How to escape?
If you are following our series then surely you would know how to avoid such frauds. . Still, let me tell you what things you should keep in mind-
1. Give information about your cards (credit or debit) to someone else.
2. Install an app on your phone at the behest of someone.
3. If someone shares the link, never open it.
4. Before calling customer care, check the number thoroughly. Do not blindly trust any website found on the Internet.
