10 persons lose over Rs 6 lakh to online shopping fraud in Vizag

Visakhapatnam: Around 10 online shopping fraud cases have been reported across Vizag city in recent weeks, in which the victims cumulatively lost over Rs 6 lakh to cyber thugs. In one such case, a woman came across an online advertisement in a social media page about clothes, contacted a person, and placed an order for the product. A few hours after placing the order, she received a phone call from a person who asked her to pay for the product and also some amount for processing and delivery of the item. Though she paid the amount, she was repeatedly asked to pay more for processing charges, and she made multiple transactions totalling around Rs 55,000.
Suspecting that it was a scam, she cancelled the order and asked for a refund. However, the fraudsters asked her to pay more for cancellation of the product. Realising that she was duped by the cyber crooks, she lodged a complaint with cybercrime police in Vizag city, seeking action against the fraudsters.Similarly, around 10 persons from different parts of the city lost amounts ranging from Rs 5,000 to Rs 1 lakh after placing orders for some products after coming across social media reels promoting the items. When the victims decided to cancel the orders, the fraudsters refused to return the amount and asked for cancellation charges.Police said the scammers also create fake websites during festival seasons, offer huge discounts to attract shoppers, and steal the money of gullible customers. They asked people to use the most verified online shopping sites and secure payment methods. Despite repeated alerts, when it comes to online and social media frauds, over 80 percent of victims were found to be educated and were aware of cyber and social media frauds, police noted.