Online scam alert! Woman loses Rs. 1.38 lakh in courier delivery scam

In yet another shocking online scam a woman has been defrauded of her hard earned money. It has been reported that a woman from Ahmedabad lost a whopping Rs.1.38 lakh and it all started innocently enough when she tried to pay a courier Rs. 5 by clicking a link. That was a wrong move as she soon realised.

As per the Times of India, Mitiksha Sheth, a 25-year-old fashion designer became a victim of a courier delivery scam and lost Rs. 1.38 lakh. Apparently, Mitiksha was waiting for a parcel containing cloth pieces to be stitched by a tailor in Paldi. When the tailor completed the order, he informed her that the order was on its way for delivery.

"On May 11, I suddenly remembered that I had given cloth pieces to a tailor in Paldi to be stitched. He told me that he had already sent across the stitched clothes through a courier firm. Since I did not receive the parcel for two days after the call, I tracked it on Google," said Sheth in her complaint, ToI reported.

Later, a delivery boy from the company called the woman asking for a payment of Rs. 5 for the delivery charge. She was told the parcel will not be delivered unless she paid. For the payment, the guy messaged her a link for payment. However, when she made the payment through the link, she was asked again to pay Rs. 5. At this moment she realised that something was wrong and she immediately blocked her bank account.

A few days later, she noticed that her bank balance was low after trying to send money to a friend. To check what happened, she visited her bank’s branch office where she got to know that the scammer has got her bank details and had debited Rs.1.38 lakh in 4 transactions between May 12 and May 13.

She filed a complaint in the cybersecurity cell of cheating and breach of trust under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Information Technology (IT) Act. The case is under investigation now.

Notably, these kind of frauds have become common and authorities are constantly warning the public about the safe ways to carry out online payments. The first thing never to do is click on any link or share your OTP with anyone. In fact, think twice before clicking on any suspicious link sent by someone you don't know. Even if friends and family send such links, do not click until it is fully veriefied.