Berhampur: In a bizarre case of cyber fraud, a customer was duped of Rs 1.27 lakh while he was trying to buy a T-shirt online. The matter came to the fore after the victim narrated his ordeal before the police and media persons Monday.
The victim has been identified as Lakhmi Narayan Panda, a resident of Ramkrushna Nagar in the Silk city.
According to sources, Panda, a banker by profession, had ordered a T-shirt through an e-commerce site known as formalbutton.in last month.
However, upon the arrival of his parcel, Panda discovered that the product did not match his order. He then contacted the customer care of the e-commerce site to return his parcel. The customer care agent, who interacted with Panda asked him to download ‘anydesk app’ to initiate the return and refund.
No sooner Panda installed the app, the agent asked Panda for his bank account credentials. Unaware of the fraud, Panda provided him with all details. The agent assured Panda that he would get his refund and hanged the phone.
Later, he siphoned off Rs 1.27 lakh from Panda’s bank account. Panda did not realise instantly that he has been duped. He discovered it a few days later when he checked his bank account and found the balance to be zero.
“When I did not get the right order, I got customer service helpline number of the e-commerce site from Google. I approached the agent to return my money and the agent also agreed. When I failed to get back my money, the agent attributed it to technical error and asked me to download anydesk app to create an id. I also did that and then the agent asked me to send a message to him. Using this id, the agent hacked my account and siphoned off Rs 1.27 lakh,” narrated Panda.