Parents looking for schools books are latest target of cyber criminals
It all starts with an unsuspecting parent searching for Book Depot's contact number on Google.
Nagpur: Cyber-financial criminals are on the hunt in full force and their latest modus operandi is to masquerade as school book depot owners, With the ultimate objective of erasing the entire bank account of the parents. The famous Book Depot, Nagpur also most popularly known as Academic Book Shops, Or frantic people rush to their stores to inquire about pending orders or even if the ‘extra money’ has been debited.
It all starts with an unsuspecting parent searching for Book Depot’s contact number on Google. Anand Chopda, owner of Novelly Book Depot (Sadar), has said that his shop name and original photos will also appear at the top of the page. There will also be a photo in the middle of these pictures in which the mobile number will be superimposed. Those numbers belong to cyber criminals only.
Then parents call on the number and it is also said that books can be delivered at home. Even to avoid the hassle of parking and commuting, the option of home delivery is a great idea, but there is a catch.
Harshit Jain, the owner of Venus Book Depot, has also said that these fraudsters then send a QR code on WhatsApp and ask for advance payment. The victim also scans it and then an OTP is also asked to confirm the delivery.
Filed a complaint with the Cyber Cell
The next thing the parents also come to know is that a huge amount has been debited from their account.
Harshit Jain has also said that a customer has shown him the same proof of how Rs 50,000 has been withdrawn from his bank account in a similar manner.
Right now the book depot owners are also requesting the citizens to always be careful while doing online transactions.
Anand Chopda has also said that the impeccable reputation built for decades is still in line because of cyber criminals. He has also filed a complaint with the Cyber Cell of Nagpur Police and the same issue has been flagged off to Google. But it continues as cybercriminals keep changing their own number and even manage to attach the same fake photo to the original Google search results.
Also Read: Husband stabs wife to death 15 times for not attending son’s wedding
