Online skincare scam: Doctor loses nearly Rs 1 lakh over 33-paise glitch
Ahmedabad: What started as a routine online skincare purchase turned into a costly lesson for a 26-year-old resident doctor, who allegedly lost nearly Rs 1 lakh after a fraudster posing as a company executive asked him to pay 33 paise more for the product.
The scam started after the doctor, employed at a private hospital, ordered a face wash through a skincare app. Soon after, he received a call from someone claiming to be a company representative who told him that his payment had failed because he had sent Rs 464.17 instead of Rs 464.50.
Also read- Silchar fake doctor arrested for running bogus medical degree racket
The fraudster claimed that it was a glitch and asked the doctor to make the payment again, promising that the earlier amount would be refunded. Following this, the fraudster sent the doctor several "refund" and "debit freeze" codes and asked him to enter them in his app.
Trusting the caller, the doctor followed the instructions only to later find that he had unknowingly transferred Rs 99,591 to the scammer’s account as per the TOI news report.
Realising he had been cheated, the doctor immediately contacted the cybercrime helpline and filed a complaint with Maninagar police.
Later, the police registered an FIR under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for cheating by personation, along with provisions of the Information Technology Act related to identity theft and cheating through electronic means.
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that a doctor from South Mumbai allegedly lost Rs 10.5 lakh after fraudsters tricked him into converting his physical SIM card into an eSIM. The fraudsters then gained control of his phone and email, allowing them to siphon money from his account. Following this, the doctor filed a complaint against the fraudsters. Based on the complaint, the police arrested a 23-year-old man, who received part of the defrauded amount in his bank account.
Also read- E-SIM scam: Mumbai doctor loses Rs 10.5 lakh to cyber fraudsters
