Attempting to seek a refund for her cancelled food order, Priya was allegedly fooled by the customer care agent into shelling out Rs 40,000 to regain Rs 79
Chennai: A 20-year-old woman ended up paying Rs 40,000 to obtain a refund of Rs 79. Priya Agarwal had ordered food from an aggregator, days ago. Minutes after she received a message that the order was cancelled, Priya made an attempt to speak to the customer care agent about the issue.
Priya found the customer care number online and raised a complaint. The agent who received her complaint allegedly promised to resolve the issue if she was ready to pay Rs 5,000. He also promised her that the total amount 5,079 would be refunded together, as refunding Rs 79 was difficult. The gullible woman sent him Rs 5,000.
When she asked him about the refund later, he allegedly asked her to transfer Rs 5,000 more. Priya reportedly kept sending the agent money and ended up paying Rs 40,000 altogether. Days later, when she was unable to contact the agent, she realised that the agent had fooled her.
Priya then lodged a complaint at a nearby police station.
In a similar incident, a Mumbai woman lost Rs 75,000 in an online purchase. The woman ordered a saree for Rs 1,100 from an online website. After she received the saree, she found a defect in it and called up customer care for a refund.
The customer care agent asked her to send her bank account number and IFSC (Indian Financial System Code). On March 25, 2019, the complainant received messages from her bank alerting her that Rs 75,000 had been withdrawn from her account.
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