An engineer lost Rs 5.22 lakh while selling an old sofa; this is how the fraudsters carried out the fraud

If you are also thinking of selling old furniture or other items online, then be alert. A 21-year-old young engineer from Odisha has suffered heavy financial loss due to this. Let us know how a fraudster swindled lakhs of rupees from this young man by posing as a buyer.

Everything started when engineer Shubh Jena posted an advertisement on an online classified site on May 8 to sell his old sofa for Rs 10,000. Shortly after, a person contacted and introduced himself as a furniture dealer named "Rakesh Kumar Sharma". During the conversation, the deal was fixed between the two for Rs 8000.

The scammer asked Shubhra for bank details for the payment. Everything seemed normal initially, but when he tried to transfer the payment, the transaction failed. After this, the scammer said that the payment would be made from his mother's account, so he asked Shubhra to give his mother's bank details.

Shubhra should have been suspicious, but he also shared his mother's details. Soon after this, the scammer started transferring money from both the accounts. Two days later, on May 10, the scammer told Shubhra that Rs 5.22 lakh had been deducted from his account by mistake and he would return the amount.

But neither the money was returned nor the scammer got in touch again. His phone was also switched off. When Shubhra and his mother went to the bank and checked the account statement, they found that a total of Rs 5,21,519 had disappeared. After this, Shubhra immediately lodged a complaint with the cyber police.

Never give your bank details, UPI PIN or OTP to an unknown person. Before making an online transaction, thoroughly check the identity of the other person. If you have any doubts, immediately cancel the deal and contact an expert or cyber helpline. Avoid sharing any information related to messages or calls received on banking apps.

This incident makes it clear that selling goods online can be as risky as it seems easy. Therefore, a little negligence can cause huge financial loss.