DO YOU know, even a simple transaction to book food on-line can leave you with an empty bank account? It is happening in the city in a brazen manner. Customers booking on-line orders for food are losing huge money to cyber crooks. This is the story of loyal customers of Gayatri Bhojnalaya, situated in Dharampeth, who are getting duped by an on-line fraudster. The fraudster has the audacity of mocking at the cyber cell unit of Nagpur police whenever it tries to trap him. Whenever anybody gets suspicious of the trick and starts asking for the on-line thief’s credentials, they are bombarded with choicest of abuses on telephone by the crook.

 

“It all started during peak of lockdown around 3 to 4 months ago when a customer approached us and made enquiry about food service. The customer was in an aggressive mood. He is our customer but was not able to visit our hotel as it remained closed due to strict orders from the administration. We had began on-line service and put our details on website, through which we kept getting orders. The fraudster might have realised our popularity and he copied our details including the photo of our hotel’s interior, displayed the same on Facebook account, putting his own number,” informed Ajay Joshi of Gayatri Bhojnalaya. Joshi had to opt for the on-line mode of booking and food delivery due to lockdown.

 

The comfortable way of ordering food has now seen many of his customers relying on the on-line method to place orders. Joshi has lodged a First Information Report with cyber cell of Nagpur police long back, and police also co-operated with him. However, despite their best efforts they have not been able to lay hand on the crook whose working style looks a direct lift-off from the web series ‘Jamtara’ that dealt with the same subject of on-line frauds. According to police the fraudster is able to hide the URL of his Facebook account because of which the police are not able to trace him. Adv Mahendra Limaye, well-known cyber expert of Nagpur, said the fraudster is doing screen-sharing. “In case of this fraudster who pretends to be the owner of Gayatri Bhojnalaya, when people open the link, all details go to his mobile screen. When the customer does the transaction and receives OTP, it appears on his screen too. After receiving details the fraudster must be doing another transaction, the OTP of that new transaction appears on the customer’s mobile. Obviously the customer doesn’t notice because he or she had not initiated the transaction. As far as details of the ATM card are concerned, people should avoid sharing the same in any way.”

 

Fraudster’s modus operandi When people check Facebook page of Gayatri Bhojnalaya they find an offer of ‘Buy one thali and get one free’. The post is always accompanied by photo of sitting arrangement in the original hotel. It lures them into the offer and they make a call on the given number (08260823902). The person picking the call provides details of food items available with him. Accordingly the customer places his order and the fraud begins. The fraudster asks the customer to deposit Rs 10 as a token amount and insists for card payment only, for which he sends a link. Customer opens the link and fills all details of ATM card.

 

A payment of Rs 10 is made after receiving an OTP. When food is not delivered in time, the customer calls on the phone number but nobody picks the call. After a while the customer realises that his/her bank account is left with no money. “We feel bad for the sufferings of our valued customers. We are least bothered about our name being used by the fraudster. Our main concern is people are getting deceived. We appeal people not to fall prey to the fraudster and ensure whether it is the real Gayatri or not. We are not giving any offer of free thali. They are free to call on 0712-2521303 and talk to us,” said Ajay Joshi.

 

‘People should not share card details’ Commenting on the peculiar case, senior inspector of Cyber Crime Cell of Nagpur Dr Ashok Bagul pointed out, “On several occasions we have made appeal to people not to share details of their card but they keep sharing. I again request everybody to stop sharing the card information with any unknown person.”