Mumbai Woman Orders 4 Kurtis, Loses Rs 98,000 In Online Shopping Refund Scam

A woman in Mumbai lost Rs 98,000 to cyber fraud after buying kurtis online and receiving calls from people who claimed her payment had not gone through and misled her with a false refund process.

According to the complaint, the woman had recently ordered four kurtis through the website Westside.com and paid the full amount online at the time of purchase.

Soon after the purchase, she was contacted by cyber fraudsters. 

They claimed that her earlier payment had not been completed properly or there was a technical issue, and told her she needed to make the payment again.

The callers assured her that any extra amount deducted would be returned through a refund process. Trusting this, the woman made another payment of Rs 2,647 to start the supposed refund.

As she followed the steps suggested by the fraudsters, multiple transactions were carried out from her bank account, and a total of Rs 98,000 was debited in installments.

On receiving messages about the deductions, the woman immediately approached the police. The police have registered a case of cheating against unknown cyber criminals and begun an investigation.

Companies regularly caution customers that genuine online shopping portals do not ask users to click on unknown links or make a second payment to process refunds. Customers are advised to obtain customer care numbers only from official websites, as relying on search results can be risky.