Mahekk Chahal became a victim of online payment fraud on July 12 and lost Rs. 49,000. She rushed to Bandra Police Station to lodge a complaint, and the cyber wing of the police station registered an FIR against the accused.

Mahekk says, “While checking the internet regarding a courier service to send a parcel to Gurugram, I came across a number and called the concerned person.”

Mahekk says, “He claimed to be affiliated with a popular courier service company. He said that he would assist me and asked me to visit a website and complete the registration by transferring Rs. 10 on the website. He asked me about my mode of payment, and I told him that I was using Google Pay. However, when I tried to make the payment via Google Pay, it didn’t go through. That’s when he shared a link for payment and asked me to punch in my UPI details. He then sent me an encrypted message and told me to forward it to a number within 20 seconds. After failing the first time, he sent me a similar message and again told me to forward it within 20 seconds, which I did.”

She adds, “To my horror, money was deducted from my account and I was alerted about the transaction through a message. I called up at my bank at once and froze all my accounts and cards.”

Talking about the police complaint, she says, “The cyber wing of the police station acted on the case at once and was very helpful. They immediately filed an FIR and initiated the investigation. I am quite shaken by the incident. It’s scary that people can be swindled online in less than five minutes. It’s almost impossible to trace these imposters because they discard their SIM cards soon after committing fraud. It is done so smoothly that one does not even get time to verify anything. I had to cancel my shoot for Naagin and deal with this incident the entire day.”