A girl was targeted in a UPI scam attempt. However, understanding the fraudster's trick, she outsmarted him.
Fraudsters are everyday coming up with new tricks to defraud people using fake websites and scam pages. One scam that's been circulating for months is the "father's friend" scam, where fraudsters pose as a friend or acquaintance of the target's father, often claiming to need financial help or requesting sensitive information. However, recently, a young girl turned the tables on a scammer in an impressive way.
In a video shared on X, the girl is seen engaging with the fraudster on the phone, who claimed to be her father's friend. She recognised it as a scam and pretended to cooperate to possibly gather more information or stall the situation. The scammer tried to convince the teen that her father had asked him to transfer money to her UPI account.
The fraudster confidently asserted that he would send her Rs 12,000 via Unified Payments Interface (UPI).
The caller tells the girl, "Your father asked me to give you Rs 12,000. I need to put this money into your account." The girl asks the fraudster if he has to give her money. He says yes. Then asks whether to use PhonePe or PTM.
After this, the caller first pretends to send her Rs 10. Upon confirmation by the girl, he claims to have sent Rs 10,000 and then Rs 20,000. Instead of Rs 2,000. After that, he says that more money has been sent by mistake and asks her to send back Rs 18,000.
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The quick-thinking girl edited the fake SMS to show she sent Rs 18,000 back and forwarded it to him. "There, I have also sent you Rs 18,000," she said.
The scammer was caught off guard, and admitted defeat, saying "Maan gaya main aapko, beta" before hanging up.
The girl then explains in the video what method he had adopted to cheat. When someone sends money to your bank account, a message comes from the bank. The fraudster had prepared a fake message just like the bank.
