A student lost ₹6,450 chasing a ₹799 kurti from an Instagram ad. Police say the trail led to a network moving more than ₹30 crore, and seven people are arrested.
Delhi Police have arrested seven people in a cyberfraud case that began with one cheap online order. A Delhi University student tried to buy a ₹799 kurti, a style of tunic, from an Instagram ad and ended up losing ₹6,450. Police say the money led to a network handling more than ₹30 crore. A crore is ten million rupees.
Fatima, a student at Ramjas College who lives in Prayagraj, saw an ad from an account called Kavya_kurti_hub. She messaged the seller on WhatsApp and paid a ₹400 advance by QR code. Then a caller asked her for a passcode for parcel delivery. He said she needed to pay more to generate the code and cover charges that would be refunded.
She sent four more payments: ₹1,150, ₹2,000, ₹2,650 and ₹650. The parcel never came, and neither did the refund.
Fatima reported it on the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal. A case was registered on September 4. Investigators went through nearly 200 mobile numbers and banking records. They also used records from companies including Flipkart, Zomato and Blue Dart. The payments led to a bank account tied to a company in Greater Noida.
Police raided Greater Noida on October 16 and arrested six people. A seventh was arrested in Kanpur on October 21. They say about 25 bank accounts were opened under made-up firms and names. Police allege the accounts were handed to other members of the group in return for monthly payments and commissions.
Police linked 27 complaints from different states to the network. They recovered 20 mobile phones, 45 SIM cards, 39 card payment machines, 33 debit cards and 28 cheque books. The case shows how a small shopping scam can sit on top of something much larger.
Anyone who buys from social media ads or chats with sellers on Instagram and WhatsApp. The risk is highest if you are asked to pay by QR code. The warning sign here was not the low price. It was the request for more money after the first payment. A real shop does not charge extra to release a delivery code or unlock a refund.
Shoppers who buy through a store's own website or app, and are never asked for extra fees, face a different situation. Still, any request for more money mid-order is worth stopping on.
The alert box above lists the steps, including how to report a scam. The key point is speed. Tell your bank and use the cybercrime portal as soon as you suspect something.
The material does not say whether Fatima got her money back. It also does not say what the accused have told police. Police are still working to find other members and to connect this case to other cyberfraud cases.
If a seller asks for more money to deliver an order or release a refund, stop paying and report it to your bank and the cybercrime portal.
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