15 June,2022 10:50 AM IST | Mumbai | Anurag Kamble
Sanjiv Bhandari wanted a refund for Rs 6,350 but ended up losing over Rs 22,000
Tweeting his grievance regarding a refund he had not received after ticket cancellation, proved costly for a 31-year-old. Soon after, he was approached by a person who sought details claiming to be from the company that he had done the booking with, and lost over Rs 22k after providing them. An FIR has been registered with Worli police station against an unknown person.
Sanjiv Bhandari, a Worli resident, had booked a Mumbai-Hyderabad flight ticket in April 2022 through an online booking portal. "I cancelled the booking on April 25, but haven't got the refund of the fare i.e. Rs 6,350. I was pursuing the company for the amount. But I received no response to even mails and hence decided to tweet about it by tagging the company," he said.
On June 12, around 3 pm, Bhandari tweeted tagging the company. At 7pm, he received a call from a person who claimed to be a staffer of the booking portal. Bhandari said the person told him he was assigned to refund the amount. He asked Bhandari to fill a Google form for record. The caller asked him to fill even bank details. He then sent Bhandari a message and asked him to forward it to another number. As soon as he did so, he received a message mentioning deduction of Rs 19,999 from his digital wallet.
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"In all Rs 22,499 was deducted via three transactions. For a moment I didn't understand how it happened. But immediately I realised the guy who had posed as the company executive did it," said Bhandari. He registered an offence against an unknown person at the Worli police station. "This is a new kind of cyber fraud we have come across. We have booked an unknown person for it under IPC 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating) and relevant sections of IT Act 2022," said Anil Koli, senior inspector of Worli police station.
Rs 22,499
The total amount the complainant lost
