Doctor tries to complain about excess taxi fare, loses Rs 1 lakh

Bengaluru: An elderly doctor in Bengaluru, who sought to lodge a complaint with a taxi aggregator regarding an inflated fare displayed on the application after booking a trip, ended up losing Rs1 lakh to cybercrooks. The fraudsters deceived the victim into entering the first five digits of her mobile number into a digital payment application, subsequently stealing her funds.
Aradhya (name changed), who resides in a gated community on Kammanahalli Main Road and runs a clinic in RT Nagar, stated in her complaint to Banasawadi police on Monday that she had booked a sedan through Ola app on Sep 22 from her clinic to her residence.The fare displayed at the time of booking was Rs 119, but later, the app showed Rs 300 as the fare.
Deciding to complain about the inflated fare, Aradhya searched online for the customer care number, found a number 91223814584, and called it. The person who answered introduced himself as Alok Kumar from Ola. He assured her that he would resolve the problem and asked for the payment method she used. Aradhya said she paid through PhonePe. The scamster then collected her UPI ID and bank account details.
He tricked her into opening the payment application by saying he will show her how she has to pay the originally displayed fare of Rs 119. The scamster sent her a UPI ID and instructed her to go to the transfer money section, click on the ‘To Bank/UPI ID' icon, and add the UPI ID he had sent. She added the UPI ID beneficiary and completed the verification process. Then, he asked her to enter the first five digits of her mobile number. Aradhya entered ‘98453' and followed his instructions to click on pay and entered her pin to complete the payment. As soon as she entered it, the money was debited from her account.
The scamster assured her of a refund and tried to siphon off more money by asking her to follow further instructions. Suspecting something amiss, Aradhya disconnected the call, blocked his number, and contacted her bank to block her account. She then called the cyber helpline 1930 and filed a complaint. The fraudster continued to call her from another number, 8866769299, on the pretext of helping her get a refund, but Aradhya did not entertain his calls. She filed a complaint with the police the following day.
A senior police officer said, "We are coordinating with the bank officials to freeze the fraudster's account. A case has been registered under the Information Technology Act, and an investigation is under way."