KOCHI: A customer recently had a harrowing experience when he lost money from his account after calling a customer care number he found online. The incident occurred in August this year when a 65-year-old man faced issues with a newly purchased electric frying pan from a reputable kitchenware manufacturer. Seeking assistance, the complainant attempted to report the matter to the company.
“To file a complaint and address the frying pan issue, he searched for the company’s customer care number on Google. He dialed the first number that appeared in the search results. The person who answered the call assured the victim that a company executive would contact him shortly,” explained a police official.
On the same day, the victim received a call from another mobile number, with the caller identifying themselves as an employee of the kitchenware manufacturing company. The caller promised to resolve the issue promptly. “As part of the process, the imposter posing as a company employee instructed the victim to install a remote access app on his mobile phone.
The victim was advised to download an app called ‘App Desk’ from the Google Play Store. Unfortunately, the victim followed the instructions provided by the caller,” the police officer said. After installing the ‘App Desk’ app, the victim unwittingly granted the fraudster access to his mobile phone. Subsequently, the scammer managed to obtain sensitive banking details, including passwords and OTP numbers, from the victim’s phone. Within hours, the victim discovered that Rs 93,000 had been debited from one of his bank accounts. Shortly afterward, Rs 1.34 lakh was withdrawn from another of his bank accounts, resulting in a total loss of Rs 2.27 lakh.
The victim promptly approached his respective banks, which advised him to report the incident to the police. Subsequently, a case was registered at the Ernakulam Rural Police Cyber Police station. Law enforcement authorities have initiated an investigation and are working to block the accounts to which the stolen money was transferred.
According to the police, a common mistake made by individuals is to assume that phone numbers displayed in Google search results are authentic. “Such cases of fraud have been on the rise lately. Fraudsters create fake websites in the names of reputable companies to ensure that counterfeit contact numbers appear in Google searches. We have seen cases where people lost money after contacting customer care numbers for banks, electronic manufacturers, telecom companies, and insurance providers found through Google searches,” the police officer cautioned.
To prevent falling victim to such scams, the police recommend that users refrain from using phone numbers found in Google search results as their primary point of contact. Instead, they should visit the respective company’s official website and obtain the customer care contact number from there. Additionally, individuals should promptly report such incidents to the police or the national cybercrime reporting portal to increase the chances of recovering lost funds.