Man loses Rs 5 lakh after calling 'Uber customer care' number which appeared on Google; check details here

In a surprising turn of events, a man reportedly lost Rs 5 lakh after calling a customer care number that appeared in Google search results.

The man, who fell prey to this online fraud, was identified as Pradeep Chowdhary, a resident of SJ Enclave in Delhi, according to the FIR accessed by the news agency IANS. He was charged an extra Rs 100 for an Uber ride he took and sought assistance in the same matter. He reportedly Googled the company’s customer care number; however, the number that appeared in the search was fake and led him to a loss of more than Rs 5 lakh.

As per the FIR, Chowdhary took a cab to Gurugram for Rs 205, but Uber charged him Rs 318, which led him to check the customer support number online.

In the complaint, Chowdhary said, "The driver suggested I could get a refund by calling customer care. I obtained the number from Google, '6289339056,' which redirected to '6294613240,' and then to Rakesh Mishra at '9832459993.'"

"Subsequently, he instructed me to download the 'Rust Desk app' from the Google Play Store. After that, he asked me to open Paytm and message 'rfnd 112' for the refund amount. When questioned about providing my phone number, he claimed it was for account verification," Chowdhary added in the FIR.

Initially, Rs 83,760 was transferred to Atul Kumar, followed by four more transactions of Rs four lakhs, Rs 20,012, Rs 49,101 and others. Three transactions were through Paytm and one via PNB Bank, as per the complainant.

Police officials have filed an FIR under section 420 of the Indian Penal Code and section 66D of the Information Technology Act, and an investigation is underway, a senior police official told IANS.

Since Google allows users to add information to search results, scammers may replace official business phone numbers by adding information to a business's page by fabricating the identity of that business online. Until the false number is reported or discovered to be incorrect, it is likely to stay on the Google business page. Hence, it can lead to these kinds of frauds for people searching helpline numbers online.

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