Kolkata, September 24: The thought of having a mouthwatering dish from your favourite restaurant and that too at a dirt-cheap price is a temptation which is too difficult to resist. Just when restaurants were allowed to open and people were bored of having home-cooked food, exciting offers like 'Buy 1 and Get 2' from Peter Cat and other popular restaurants in Kolkata started to crop up on social media pages. Many fell for such traps and have lost money in different cyber frauds.

A fake page has been created in the name of Peter Cat which says- "We Serve Online Food in This Pandemic Time and We Serve Online Food to Our Customers to His/Her Doorsteps Buy 1 Get 2 Thali Chelo Kabab Free in Your First Order Hurry up Call Now-8597857715." Cyber Fraud Alert: Fake Numbers Uploaded on Google to Dupe People, Tips to Stay Safe & Not Lose Money.

A video has gone viral on social media where a woman was on the verge of getting duped at the hands of these fraudsters after calling the above number to book an order. Her daughter, however, realised that it was a fraud and she cautioned her mother at the right time which saved her from getting cheated.

Here's her video asking people to be careful of these fraudsters:

Fraud Calls: 

According to a Times of India report, a middle-aged man in Kolkata lost Rs 32,000 in a crime which took place in Peter Cat restaurant's name. He received a call from a person, who claimed himself to be the manager of Peter Cat restaurant in Park Street and promised to offer him a buy-1-get-1 offer with zero delivery charge on some of the iconic dishes of the restaurant, including Chelo kebab.

He received a link over text message to book the offer. Once the victim clicked the link, the con-men had all the access to his phone.

Here's the message posted on the original Peter Cat Facebook page:

 

Modus Operandi:

Cyber frauds are always devising plans to dupe innocent people and take their hard-earned money.  From creating fake pages in the name of the restaurant, making fraud calls to uploading wrong numbers on Google, fraudsters are always ahead in the race to cheat people. They urge people to make the payment after sending a link to confirm the order. Once a person clicks on the link, he or she will be exposing their mobile phone to the fraudsters, who will get access to all their sensitive information like OTP and other details.

Here's How People Can Stay Safe & Not Fall Prey to Scams

  1. Don't fall for everything that you see on social media. People who have visited restaurants like Peter Cat know that it is impossible for them to offer 'Buy 1 Get 2 free on any dish'.

  2. At a time when restaurants have just opened up after the coronavirus induced lockdown and they are struggling with low orders and less footfall, it will be very difficult for them to run cheap offers and that too on their signature dish.

  3. Google and find the number of the restaurant and once check with them regarding any such order. However, there has also been an increase in the number of people being duped by fake numbers uploaded on Google. So be extremely careful before making any transactions.

  4. Never click on any unknown links sent by strangers asking to make payment.

  5. Don't feed your card details, like CVV and OTP in any of the forms or share it with anyone over the phone. Stay alert while making any transaction, don't fall in trap with people sweet-talking to get personal details from you.

  6. Due to the COVID-19, since many are not comfortable in dealing with cash, restaurants are also not opting for Cash on delivery options. If you have any doubts regarding the authenticity of the restaurant, it is best to skip it.Also, be careful of phishing websites.

    According to a Kaspersky report, the presence of https and the green lock doesn't guarantee that a website is safe from all the threats. At a time, when technology has brought us closer, and more so amid the coronavirus pandemic, it is also extremely important to always be alert and to stay safe.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 24, 2020 05:11 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).