Delhi jeweller loses lakhs in new scam, falling for the same ruse twice

In a new scam reported by NDTV, a jeweller in Delhi's biggest gold and silver market, Kucha Mahajani in Chandni Chowk, was cheated of nearly Rs 3 lakh by a scamster last week.

How it happened

Naval Kishore Khandelwal, who runs a 50-year-old jewellery store, was reportedly on a pilgrimage to Ayodhya when a person called up his shop and agreed to a deal for a 15-gm gold chain with his sons, who were managing the shop in his absence. The ‘customer’ said he could not visit the shop and asked for Khandelwal’s internet banking details to transfer the money online.

After a while, Khandelwal received a message on his phone that Rs 93,400 had been credited to his bank account and he sent the screenshot to his sons. The jewellers sent the 15-gm gold chain to the address given by the ‘customer’.

The next day, the same ‘customer’ called up again, and this time said he needed a 30-gm gold chain. He wanted the same process to be followed.

This should have set some alarm bells ringing. But it didn’t.

Khandelwal again received a message, supposedly from his bank, that his account had been credited with Rs 1,95,400, upon which his sons sent the 30-gm chain to the same address.

Only then did the jeweller think of checking his account statement on his bank’s mobile app, and discovered that they had been taken for a ride. The money was not deposited in his account.

He then had a second look at the messages he had received from the scamster, and realized that though they seemed to be in the format used by the bank, they were not actually sent by the bank.

Bank denies responsibility

When his sons went to the bank to verify, the bank officials confirmed that the amount was not credited to their account, and said the bank was not responsible for the fraud that had been committed.

Khandelwal’s son said they could not check the bank account before sending the gold chains because the bank app was installed only on his father’s phone.

The victims have filed a complaint, but the police have not succeeded in tracing the scamster.

Delhi jeweller not alone

Apparently, many other traders in Delhi and elsewhere have been victims to a similar scam.

The president of the Bullion and Jewellers Association, Yogesh Singhal, said that when he sent a message to members of the association across the country, several jewellers called him up and told him that they too had been cheated in the same way.

Though a complaint has been registered on the cyber crime portal of the Ministry of Home Affairs, experts say this is not a cyber crime but rather one of cheating and forgery, because the scamsters did not use the bank portal or any web portal.

So remember, it would be sensible to check your bank account statement either on the bank’s app or on the website when you receive a message that someone has deposited money in your account, and not just take them at their word.