Google search for a customer care number could cost you dear

We’ve all resorted to a Google search to look up the contact or customer care number of a store or service at some point. It is a quick and easy way to find information, and most of us trust the details blindly. But according to newspaper reports, Priyanka Khatal from Navi Mumbai ended up losing ₹1.05 lakh to a fraud by doing just that.

Khatal was trying to find the contact of a courier service and used a number she found on Google. The person who answered her call asked her to transfer ₹5 to his account as a test transaction, but soon after, several unauthorized transactions were made from her account and she ended up losing her savings.

There have been a slew of such incidents where fraudsters used a fake phone number listed on Google to scam people. We tell you how to protect yourself from this brand of fraud.