Man duped of Rs 7.53 Lakh by fake ‘Amazon customer service’

A police officer said that the incident took place on Tuesday when the complainant Ajay Singh wanted to check the status of the delivery of a mobile phone he had ordered for his wife on Amazon. He looked up the Amazon customer service number on Google and dialled the number.

The person who answered claimed to be an Amazon delivery agent. When Singh asked him if the delivery could be expected on that day, the person allegedly said it would take a few more days and that Singh had an option to cancel the order. Singh agreed.

The person then asked him for his Google Pay account details saying the money would instantly be refunded to that account. After Singh gave the details, the person said there was some issue and the money could not be refunded. Using the same pretext, he asked him to provide details of another bank account and two credit cards, Singh told the police.

It was only after some time that Singh found he had received 21 messages from various bank accounts alerting him that Rs 7.53 lakh had been transferred from his account. When Singh realised he had been cheated, he approached the Parksite police station where an FIR had been registered.

A police officer said that there was a trend where fraudsters changed numbers on Google listings and duped people. “It is necessary to verify the phone numbers one gets from Google, especially those related to customer service before giving out details,” the officer added.