HYDERABAD: The nationwide lockdown leading to closure of wine shops including more than 2,800 of them in Telangana alone, has come as a blessing in disguise for cyber criminals.
Since the lockdown began, many booze lovers have received calls offering door delivery of their favourite liquor brand. After placing an order, they are asked to transfer the amount through e-wallets.
However, once the amount is transferred, calls to the delivery men go unanswered. The Information Security Education and Awareness (ISEA), working under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology states that calls to their helpline number have increased during the lockdown. Complaints also include frauds collecting OTPs under the pretext of offering home delivery of groceries and the regular credit and debit.
Several people from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh also fell into the trap of “liquor home delivery”, but lost amounts less than Rs 1,000 in most of the cases.
A majority of complaints were reported from Tamil Nadu, followed by Rajasthan, said experts at ISEA. Ch AS Murty, associate director at ISEA, Hyderabad said, taking advantage of the lockdown imposed by the government, cyber fraudsters are posting ads offering home delivery of alcohol, groceries and food, by using names of reputed service providers.
"These ads have phone numbers for placing orders. Never contact any such phone numbers and never proceed with financial transactions with the details or links provided by them, through online transfer or UPI platforms,” he said. It was also found that cyber criminals are using old methods of offering services and collecting details of credit and debit cards. They obtain OTPs from users and loot their money. If users are not able to make payments through UPI platforms, fraudsters are collecting card details and looting them.