Wine search costs Powai businessman 1.61 lakh

A 43-year-old businessman from Powai became a victim of a search engine listing fraud, when he went online in search of a wine shop number for the home delivery of wine. Apparently, the number he found online was that of a fraudster, who duped him to the tune of Rs 1.61 lakh on the pretext of ordering wine worth Rs 3000. According to the

Powai police, the businessman who had been to his friends house in Powai for a party on Sunday evening was looking for home delivery of wine. He went online in search of a wine shop and found one wine shop by the name Star Wine located in Powai.

Unaware of the number belonging to a cyber fraudster, the businessman called the number and placed his order of wine worth Rs 3000. The fraudster told him to pay for the wine and asked for his credit card number. He then asked for One Time Password (OTP) received by the businessman on his mobile.

However, as soon as he shared the OTP number, Rs 61,000 was debited from his account.

The businessman told the fraudster about the transaction. However, the fraudster assured him that the money was mistakenly transferred and asked for bank details of another account on the pretext of refund. Hoping that he would get a refund, the businessman shared his debit card number and this time again told the fraudster the two OTPs he received. Like the previous time, this time as well, Rs 61,000 and Rs 39,912 were debited from the account. By the time, the businessman realised his mistake and stopped further conversation with the fraudster.

He then approached the Powai police, who registered a First Information Report under the IPC section of cheating (420) and section 66C (identity theft) and 66D (punishment for cheating personation by using a computer resource) of the Information Technology Act.