Shocking online loss! Women loses Rs. 61900 to cybercrime while booking appointment

In a shocking incident, booking an appointment with a doctor online cost a woman Rs. 61900. Here is how you can avoid losing money in such a cybercrime.

Here is how to stay safe from cybercrime. (Unsplash)

How do you book your doctor's appointment? As everything can now be done easily with just a few clicks, most people opt for booking online appointments. However, when it comes to using the internet, you need to be a bit careful because of the rising cases of cybercrime. In a shocking incident, a woman has been duped of Rs. 61900 while booking doctor's appointment online. According to a report by ANI, Delhi Police has informed that the woman named Tabassum Qureshi is a Delhi-based television producer.

"According to the police, the victim Tabassum Qureshi, a resident of Daryaganj in Central Delhi, and working as a producer of television programmes, alleged that she was duped of approx Rs. 61,900 by a fraudster on the pretext of getting her a doctor's appointment in Delhi on December 29, 2022," ANI stated in a report.

The Delhi police said, "Tabassum in her complaint said that she got the number of Dr Sumit Jain's private clinic on the internet. At first, the call was not connected but later she received a call from an unknown number, and the suspect said that he will book the appointment."

"After introducing himself as a staff of the clinic, the suspect asked the woman to pay ₹5 as a donation to the orphanage kids through a payment link. The woman tried to make the payment but at first, it was unsuccessful so she used her sister-in-law's mobile to do the same," the Delhi police added.

The police further informed that though the transaction was unsuccessful through her sister-in-law's mobile, after 5-10 minutes, she received a message of deduction of Rs. 51900 from her account. This was followed by another deduction of Rs. 10000 from Tabassum's mother Sardar Qureshi's account. The investigation into the matter is underway.

How to avoid cybercrime

Step 1:

Here are some of the steps you need to keep in mind in order to avoid losing your hard earned money.

Step 2:

Do not click on links without checking their authenticity.

Step 3:

Take numbers of doctors by visiting the official websites of their clinic or some other official sources.

Step 4:

Do not share your bank account details with anyone you are not sure of.

Step 5:

Do not transfer money on someone's say so, especially strangers that you spoke to over the phone.

Step 6:

Do not transfer money to phone numbers picked up over the Internet.

Step 7:

In short, you must verify the organisation or person through some other foolproof means that fully proves their legitimacy.