Cybercrooks target chemists under disguise of placing orders

In the most recent scam that has come to light, cybercrooks are conning chemists in the city under the deception of placing an online order for medicines. The chemists are conned to share their Unified Payments Interface (UPI) to make payment and later discover they have been scammed, said officials.
In the past one month at least 40 such cases have been received by the cyber crime department of Pune police and Wakad police, said officials.
As per the chemist association, the caller claims to work with the armed forces and places orders for the medicines. Later the conman asks the chemist to share the UPI and assures to make payment online and collect the medicines. The hackers trick the chemist by claiming to have sent excess money and then the actual bill amount and ask the chemist to accept a money request for the excess amount. Once the money request is accepted the money starts to get deducted from the bank account.
Vivek Tapkir, vice-president of Chemist Association Pune District (CAPD), said, last week in a similar incident we have complained to the Wakad police wherein a chemist was conned.
“This has become rampant and we have also taken up the issue in our recent association meeting and told all members to be cautious. The scammers always claim to be an employee of the armed forces. I have come across a female scammer who even shared her canteen card given to defence employees by the government. The order placed for medicines is always around ₹15,000 to ₹20,000,” he said.
Kailas Tandale, president of Maharashtra Practising Pharmacists Association (MPPA), said, “We have started to share messages amongst the association members and on social media to inform everyone about this new scam. We have over 1.20 lakh registered pharmacists in the state.”
Minal Patil, senior police inspector attached to the cyber crime department of Pune police, said, it’s not just happening with the chemist but everyone. “The scammers are calling citizens to place orders and asking to share the UPI details, scan or accept the payment. In all these cases the scammer claims to be from armed forces and citizens should not trust them and verify facts before making the payment,” she said.
Patil, further, said the citizens should complain immediately on the cyber crime helpline 1930 and cybercrime.gov.in when they are scammed.
“The earlier the complaint, the higher the possibility of freezing the further money transfer and withdrawal. However, the time differs as per the policy of the bank and Money transfer platform,” she said.