Cake shop owner warns of fraud through video

Mangaluru: A proprietor of a cake shop in Bajpe recently released a video that has gone viral, detailing how an attempt was made to cheat him, hoping to raise awareness of online scams. He said cake shop owners and those dealing with events are becoming targets of an overpayment scam. In the video, he explained that on Friday, he received a call from a man speaking in Hindi. Since the shop is located near the airport in Bajpe, the caller claimed to be from the CISF (Central Industrial Security Force) and urgently requested two cakes weighing 4 kg. As it seemed like a business order, the shop owner was pleased and quoted a price of Rs 2,800 for the cakes. The caller then asked him to stay on the line, stating that he would transfer the money and that a person would arrive within 30 minutes to collect the cakes. While on the call, the alleged scammer requested the shop owner's Google Pay details, and the owner provided his wife's account number. Shortly after, his wife received a message stating that Rs 28,000 had been transferred. The scammer then called back, claiming that he had accidentally transferred Rs 28,000 instead of Rs 2,800. He pleaded with the shop owner to deduct the cake price and return the excess amount, explaining that the money was intended for purchasing medicines urgently. The shop owner agreed to speak to his wife and return the money. However, when he called his wife, she informed him that while she had received a message, no amount had been credited to the account. Suspicious, the shop owner called the scammer back, who insisted that the money had been transferred and urged him to send at least Rs 10,000 immediately for the medicines. The shop owner then added his wife to a conference call, where the owner's wife maintained that she had not received any amount. She then told her husband to cut the call and call her directly. Upon further inspection, the wife revealed that the message stating Rs 28,000 had been transferred was not from the bank, but from the scammer's personal number. When confronted, the scammer hung up. The shop owner shared this incident to warn others about similar scams. He told TOI that several other shopkeepers had received similar calls and that the CISF had taken note of the incident and requested details of the caller. Meanwhile, no case has been registered at the CEN police station.