In a distressing incident, a 72-year-old businessman residing in Andheri, Mumbai, became the victim of a cyber scam, losing a significant sum of Rs 1.38 lakh while attempting to purchase sweets online for the auspicious occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi. The fraudsters skillfully manipulated the septuagenarian into transferring money via UPI, capitalizing on his trust and good intentions.
The incident transpired in the Oshiwara area, as reported by the local police. The elderly complainant, residing with his spouse in Oshiwara, had the simple desire of offering sweets to Lord Ganpati on an upcoming Sunday. In pursuit of this wish, he conducted an online search on Google to locate the contact details of Tiwari Mithaiwala in Juhu and placed an order for sweets, totaling Rs 3,775 in two transactions. The order was placed successfully, with a scheduled delivery for Sunday.
However, when the sweets did not arrive as expected, the businessman called the contact number he had used to place the order. The person on the other end, ostensibly affiliated with the sweet shop, informed him that his order had not been confirmed by their system and requested him to place the order once more, as per the FIR.
Under the guise of assisting the complainant, this individual provided a different bank account number and guided him to open his Google Pay account. Subsequently, he supplied the complainant with a code, “29,875,” instructing him to input this amount in a specific slot and send it. The senior citizen, wary of the potential financial implications, sought clarification, to which the individual insisted that it was merely a code and would not result in any monetary deduction. Leveraging a supposed system error, this person persuaded the complainant to enter “29,875” as a code on his Google Pay and send the sum, as detailed in the police report.
The situation escalated when the complainant dis