Recharge refund of 399 costs 25-year-old 40k

An imposter duped a 25-year-old youth to the tune of Rs 40,000 on the pretext of assisting to claim a refund of Rs 399 for a mobile recharge. The accused first sought the victim's bank details and his account balance to lure him with a refund only to dupe him. LT Marg Police have booked the unidentified accused under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and Information Technology Act. While no arrests have been made, police are investigating the case.

The complainant, a Chandan Wadi resident and an employee at a private courier firm, had recharged his brother's phone number with a pack of Rs 399 via Google Pay on August 21. While the payment was still shown as under process, he expected that it will be completed by the next day. Much to his surprise, when the transaction still indicated that it was 'processing', he searched the number of a customer care centre on a search engine, but did not make the call.

Three days later, when the recharge was still not done, the youth contacted the number found on the search engine on August 24. When a man posing as a customer care agent answered the phone, the youth reiterated his issue and sought a solution. The customer care agent said that in a bid to get a

refund of Rs 399, he will send a Unified Payments Inter face (UPI) number and asked him to send his bank details on the same. "The agent then asked me to send the entire amount saved in my bank, which was Rs 38,564, to send it to him and then he would be able to add the refunded amount of Rs 399 and return the amount to me. I obliged and transferred the money, only for the agent to ask for another Rs 2,000. I did the same but then he asked for some more, which raised an alarm and I stopped the payments," said the youth in his complaint.

He then approached LT Marg Police and lodged a formal complaint. The accused was then booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and Information Technology Act.