MARGAO: With most people switching to digital payments and online banking, even in rural areas, South Goa district has witnessed a disturbing trend of cheating cases, where the perpetrators have identified and baited their victims over the phone or via social media, cheating them of crores of rupees. A Benaulim resident received a text message, informing her of a pending electricity bill. The texter asked the woman to first pay Rs 10 to check the transaction, and sent her a link to open. After opening the link, the woman found that Rs 75,0571 was deducted from her account.
In another case, an unknown caller directed a resident from Sernabatim to install an app, promising to pay him a large sum of money. He then convinced him to part with Rs 40,000 in order to receive the payout, and was never heard from again.
A resident of Comba, Margao, contacted a mobile number to make enquiries regarding the delayed delivery of a parcel of clothes he had purchased. He was routed to another phone number and induced to transfer Rs 2 on a link sent to him, and share his OTP (one time password). The next thing he knew, two transactions had taken place, wherein sums of Rs 9,000 and Rs 90,000 were transferred out of his bank account.
A businessman from Colmorod, Margao, clicked on a Facebook advertisement for a work-from-home job, from where he was led to a Telegram app ID of one Liza Raj, who induced him to make several deposits through Gpay and IMPS as investments, and was cheated of a total of Rs 2,49,500. In another case, an unemployed person from Navelim lodged a complaint with the Margao police stating that someone from IGI Cargo Courier Service induced him to pay Rs 1,23,800 as courier charges for a gift parcel addressed to him, through multiple deposits to a reputed bank in New Delhi. He did not receive any gift. City advocate Amarnath Desai urged victims to exercise caution when dealing with unknown people online, and to report the crime to the authorities immediately.
