This Bengaluru Woman Was Conned Out Of Rs 1.6 Lakh When She Tried To Order Wine Online

This Bengaluru Woman Was Conned Out Of Rs 1.6 Lakh When She Tried To Order Wine Online

Before the coronavirus entered our lives, as the unwanted guest that it is, my preferred method of payment, everywhere, was cash. But now, one year into this pandemic, I have learned just how useful and comparatively safer online payments are. My father still doesn’t get it though. He believes that indulging in online payments will make him more susceptible to frauds and con artists. Well, he isn’t wrong. It’s not foolproof. But I believe if you are careful, alert and as a rule don’t give anyone your account information you won’t find yourself in a financial soup. But sometimes, for whatever reason, you don’t realise what’s going on and by the time you do, it’s too late. That’s what happened to this woman from Bengaluru who was conned out of Rs 1.6 lakh after she placed an order for a bottle of wine. Yup, that’s some expensive wine!

On 24th March, Aanchal Khandelwal, a resident of Whitefield, wanted to order a bottle of wine. So she tracked down places that would deliver alcohol to her residence. She came across the number of a man named Ranveer Singh and called him. Little did she know that this was probably the biggest mistakes she would ever make. Ranveer assured Aanchal that he had the wine she was looking for and asked her to make an online payment via a QR code. Which obviously was fraudulent. The worst part is that not only is Aanchal out of Rs 1.6 lakh, but she didn’t get the wine either! Okay wait, I think I am mad about the wrong thing.

According to reports, Ranveer asked Aanchal for an advance payment. When she followed all his instructions and wired him the money, he claimed to have not received it. He asked Aanchal to do a few more transactions, each time claiming he hadn’t received the money. After four transactions, Aanchal realised that she was being conned. But by then, it was too late. In a total of five transactions, she ended up losing Rs 1,59,595. Yikes.

Also Read: In Pune, Police Bring Down A Gang Of Nine Women Who Duped Multiple Men And Fled With Their Money

Ranveer was not the only person involved in this fraud. His colleague, Rahul, who introduced himself to Aanchal as someone in the wine sale business, was also duping her. After waiting for the wine for a week, Aanchal approached the Whitefield CEN Police and filed a complaint. Here’s what I don’t understand. Why would Aanchal wait a week? How did she not realise Rs 1.6 lakh had been taken from her account. In a situation like this would your priority be your money or the bottle of wine? What was the point of waiting for the wine to be delivered?

According to the police, if Aanchal had not waited for a week and approached them immediately, they would have frozen the account the money was sent to. She would have gotten her money back. However, now little can be done because she waited for the wine to be delivered with a refund. She clearly had a lot of faith in these con artists.

What happened here is very sad. We have to be extremely careful and immediately take action if we suspect any kind of foul play. While online payments are quickly becoming a fan favourite, it’s essential we remember that they are fraud-free. In fact, if anything, they’ve given con artists more opportunities and hence, we have to be very, very careful with our money. Let’s hope these scamsters are caught before they pull the same tricks on anyone else.

https://thehauterfly.com/lifestyle/this-man-blackmailed-and-extorted-nearly-rs-33-lakh-from-a-woman-in-nagpur/

Mitali Shah

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