Courtesy/News Source: navhindtimes.in

Panaji: While the police and the banks are trying to spread awareness on various online frauds including debit card fraud, the cyber criminals continue to target gullible people with one or the other modus operandi. One such modus operandi has come to light with fraudsters targeting caterers/hoteliers by placing orders for food by impersonating to be personnel from the military.

In this connection, a woman from the city has lodged a complaint with the Panaji police claiming she was cheated by fraudsters. It is learnt that similarly there have been more such cases elsewhere in the state including in the city, however, no police complainants have been lodged.

Referring to the modus operandi, the police said that the woman from the city, who runs a hotel, received a call from a person claiming to be from the military. 

The imposter placed an order for 30 plates of biryani and other food items totally worth around Rs 3000. Police suspect that the imposter could have downloaded from the internet the photo of men in uniform and also created fake ID cards which he sent on WhatsApp to win trust of his targets.

The imposter does not meet his gullible target in person but contacts over the phone. The imposter places the order and when it is ready, informs the target that his people will come to collect the order. He tells that he will pay the bill via online transaction and asks his target to send on WhatsApp the photo of the debit card (both sides).

The one side contains the card number while the other side carries the CVV number. When the woman received an OTP, the imposter called and asked her to share the OTP claiming he has to complete the transaction to transfer money in her account.

The unsuspecting woman shared the OTP which actually the imposter used for transferring the amount. The woman then called the imposter asking as to how the money from her account was deducted. The imposter apologised and told her that he would refund the money and again made another transaction for Rs 3000. For which again the woman received an OTP on her mobile phone and unsuspectingly, she again shared it with the imposter and the money from her account was transferred. While the woman lost Rs 6000, she also had to bear the loss incurred in preparing the food, the police said.