How a man reportedly lost Rs 5 lakh to scam after dialling ‘Uber customer care’ number in Google search

A man, charged with an extra Rs 100 for an Uber trip, fell victim to deception when he reportedly sought assistance through a customer care number that appeared in Google search results. The number listed was reportedly fake, leading to him losing over Rs five lakh to online scam.

According to the FIR accessed by news agency IANS, the victim, identified as Pradeep Chowdhary, residing in SJ Enclave, took a cab to Gurugram for Rs 205, but Uber charged him Rs 318. In his complaint, Chowdhary said: “The driver suggested I could get a refund by calling customer care. I obtained the number from Google, ‘6289339056,’ which redirected to ‘6294613240,’ and then to Rakesh Mishra at ‘9832459993.’”

“Subsequently, he instructed me to download the ‘Rust Desk app’ from the Google Play Store.