Connect with us

Cyber Crime

Beware of Google Search Fraud, Aligarh Man Loses Rs 2 Lakh While Searching For Loan Options

Published

on

Increasing cases of Google search fraud are coming to light.

Aligarh: What will you do if you have to find any information? Google it, right? Is everything you see on Google or other search engines genuine? Not really. An Aligarh resident lost over Rs 2 lakh to conmen after he tried finding contact details of Bajaj finance on Google to apply for a loan.

Abdul Azim, wanted to buy a machine for which he wanted Rs 4 lakh loan. His biggest mistake was to search for Bajaj Finance’s number and loan detail on Google. Trusting the search results blindly Azim called the customer support number and also filled the mandatory form on the website to check if he was eligible for the loan.

Now the conmen had all his details and posing as a Bajaj Finance executive they started communicating with him. It started with a demand of mere Rs 3,500 for processing fee. Then they demanded R 9,200 for insurance of which with Rs 9,000 was refundable. Then the gang kept increasing the amount and demanded money for GST, final processing fee, TDC, NOC etc. In total Azim paid Rs 2,07,650 in total to the scamsters believing that they are a real executive of the finance company.

“I had to take a loan to deposit the amount they asked for. Neither I got the loan amount, but I have another loan to pay,” said Azim to the420.in

Azim added that he trusted Google and it can never be wrong, but never thought they are showing fake websites and number of criminals in top search.

Explaining the modus-operandi cybercrime experts told Th420 that these kind of fraud is now becoming rampant. Scamsters have created fake look-a-like websites of all the leading banks, consumer products, online shopping website, companies etc. The website has their contact details and phone number. Once the website is made criminals pay Google to rank their website in the top search. In simple words, if you search for a customer care number or any contact details, chances are high that Google will show results of a fake website on the top.

It is advised to double-check the URL or the name of the website. Always check if the website is original or a spoofed one. Never make a payment to any individual or an unknown number. No professional company demands money again and again. They disclose their charges at the beginning of the contract.