Online order gone wrong: Call seeking refund for missing coconut water bottle costs woman in Bengaluru Rs 95k

Bengaluru: A routine online order for tender coconut bottles turned into a terrifying ordeal for an elderly woman as she lost nearly Rs 95,000 to cyber fraudsters, posing as customer care executives, while raising a complaint about a missing bottle.

Nirmala, 71, (name changed), a homemaker, told police the fraud happened between 2.50pm and 3.30pm on June 8. Nirmala and her 73-year-old husband, a retired govt employee from Hanumanthanagar, have been residing in an ashram in Vidyamanyanagar, Andrahalli, for the past three to four months.

Since the ashram is on the outskirts and far from shops, with the help of relatives and friends, Nirmala learned how to shop online.

On June 8 afternoon, she ordered two bottles of tender coconut water through quick-commerce platform Zepto. However, only one bottle was delivered. “We are allotted a room on the fourth floor in the ashram. When the delivery boy came to deliver the bottles, my husband went to receive them. He returned with one bottle as he was not aware that I had ordered two by paying Rs 188 in total,” the woman told TOI.

“A month ago, my order from the same platform was undelivered. I searched for the customer care number, and when I contacted them, the money was refunded within an hour. So, I thought this time too, I dialled the genuine number,” she added.

“I found the number 9288212823 and dialled it. The person who answered the call introduced himself as an employee of the firm and assured me that a refund would be processed,” the complainant said.

He asked her to stay on the call and sent a link to her on WhatsApp, instructing her to click on it and enter the required details so that the refund amount could be credited to her account. “He asked me to open my digital payment application (PhonePe), enter a UPI ID and then enter the first five digits of my mobile number in the ‘enter amount’ option. He then asked me to click on the pay button and enter the password,” she said.

Soon, Rs 94,830 was debited from her bank account instead of a refund being credited. Realising that something was amiss, she disconnected the call. Soon after, she received another call from 7362994834. The caller again asked her to enter her password. She refused to comply.

Realising that she had become a victim of cyberfraud, she approached a friend, who immediately called the cyber helpline 1930 and lodged a complaint. By the time officials initiated the freezing of the fraudsters’ account, only Rs 49,000 was left in the account.

Byadarahalli police have registered a case and are investigating.