she got a number for customer service on google; man at other end sent her a link on her phone and used it to hack into it, withdrawing thousands from her bank account

A Vasai resident was conned out of Rs 43,900 while she was trying to get her food delivered after placing an order online. The woman googled the contact of the food delivery app's customer service but ended up choosing a fraudulent number.

The woman had ordered a burger on the Zomato and paid Rs 359 from her bank account. When the order did not come, she inquired with the restaurant's Bhabola branch in Vasai and was told that the order was never received. She was asked to contact Zomato's customer delivery service and found the number 7098234510 through Google search.

Also read: Three Job Seekers Lose Money To Online Fraud In Separate Cases

"A person named Deepak Sharma answered and said the money could not be credited to her account due to a technical glitch and bank strike. He then sent her a link on message and asked her to open it. However, the link did not open and the caller asked her to forward it back to him," sources in the Manikpur police said.

Assured of getting money back

The caller disconnected the phone after assuring the woman that she would get the money back. However, a few minutes later, Rs 5,000 was debited from her account twice. The woman contacted Sharma, who said that there was a glitch and that she would get her money in some time.

However, the next day, the woman lost Rs 33,900 from her account. "I tweeted to Zomato and an authorised customer representative called me. They returned the Rs 359. I also emailed to the bank but they said they can do nothing as I gave all my account information," the woman said. Links such as the one sent to the woman are used to hack into phones and access data.

Though the incident took place on January 31, the woman received a reply from the bank on August 11, after which she approached "Manikpur police.

A Zomato spokesperson said that they do not have any phone line for customer care and that they do not ask for bank details.

The FIR was registered on August 16 and an officer from Manikpur police said a case under Section 420 (cheating) of the IPC has been registered.

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