Google has made life easy. We can find answers to anything with the help of Google. If we want to find or know something, the first thing to do is a Google search. But, with the increase in the number of people using the internet, online frauds are also on the rise.
Scamsters think of new ideas each day to wipe out money from bank accounts. Now, they have come up with a new technique to cheat people who use the Google search.
This fraud does not take place due to hacking or vulnerability vis-a-vis Google. It is just a misuse of the service provided by Google for internet users.
See Also: Google Search Fraud: Here’s how it happened
In this blog, we will discuss how frauds take place through Google search.
The Google search is used to identify the customer care number of any company. But, from the next search, you must be very careful when looking for customer care numbers. This is because there are chances of the wrong number coming up in the Google search. Criminals post their numbers as the customer care numbers, either by commenting on popular blogs or by publishing blogs with their numbers. They even replace the original number of banks, shops or any other establishment by editing the contact details on Google Maps.
People fall for this trick by thinking the customer care number which comes up in Google to be genuine. When someone calls up those numbers; fraudsters pose as customer care executives and ask for bank details. They even tell customers to download the Any Desk App on their phone.
Here we will discuss two incidents where customers lost their money by calling the fake customer care numbers of reputed companies
a. A woman lost Rs 17, 286 by calling the fake customer care of Zomato
A woman had ordered a meal on Zomato and she canceled it. She wanted the refund for the canceled order, so she tried to find the customer care number of Zomato. As she could not find the customer care number on the official website; she searched for it on Google and a number popped up.
She called up that number believing it to be the genuine customer care number. The fraudster who picked up the call introduced himself as a customer care executive of Zomato and told her that he would help her get the refund.
She was asked to download a mobile app to get the refund. After she downloaded the app; she lost Rs 17,286 from her bank account. The app she was made to download was the remote access app. Fraudsters even asked her to offer certain permissions. Soon after providing the permissions, fraudsters gained complete control over her mobile
b. A man lost Rs 96,000 by calling the fake customer care number of Google Pay.
A man from Mumbai was facing some issues while paying the electricity bill on Google, so he wanted to contact the customer support team. As he did not have Google Pay customer care number, he searched for it on Google. He simply dialed the number which came up on Google. But, to his bad luck, the number was posted by cyber fraudsters as the Google Pay customer care number. The person who picked up the call introduced himself as the customer care executive of Google Pay and asked the victim to click on the collect request sent to him. Soon after he clicked on the link, Rs 96,000 was debited from his account.
1. Never call up the number which comes up on Google search. Instead, you must visit the official website of the company.
2. Never provide your personal details to anyone over the phone. No bank or reputed companies will ask you to provide your personal details like card number, CVV and OTP over the call.
See Also: Ads on housewives earning lakhs. Is it true?
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