Odisha Police Cautions Online Shoppers Ahead Of Festive Season
Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Police today advised people to remain cautious about cyber frauds while shopping online during the upcoming festive season.
People usually prefer to buy durable consumer goods, household appliances, ornaments and dress materials during Dussehra festival. Now, online shopping has become more popular among the masses. Taking advantage of the situation, cyber frauds are applying various tricks to dupe online shoppers, said Odisha Police.
According to police, the fraudsters either make phone calls to people or send them messages to lure them into the traps. “The fraudsters make offers to people to enhance their credit card balance. They also lure people by saying that their account numbers or mobile numbers have won huge money in lotteries. Sometimes, the cyber frauds tell people that they have selected for certain gifts against purchase of ornaments and other goods. They dupe people of their money after collecting their bank account details and OTP. The cyber crooks also send certain links to people through WhatsApp. Gullible people usually fall into the traps by clicking the links,” said Bhubaneswar Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Prateek Singh.
Singh advised people not to believe in the false promises of the fraudsters. “We request people not to share their account or credit card details and monetary transactions with anyone. The residents of the capital city can contact the cyber police over helpline no-7440006709 whenever they are getting any suspicious calls or messages. Anyone who has lost money to the cyber crooks should immediately lodge his/her complaint with police,” Singh said.
