PUNE: A 36-year-old woman was cheated of Rs 42,999 while trying to get refund for a cancelled flight ticket for a trip abroad. 

She lodged a complaint case with the Yerawada police. The police said the incident took place on March 22 this year. Police Inspector AB Waghmare, who is investigating the case, said the woman, who works with a private company and stays in Viman Nagar, was planning to go to Singapore.

The woman  booked the ticket through a popular web portal. Later, she was informed that her flight to Singapore was cancelled. She then tried to get a refund from the portal and used Google to search for the call centre number of the portal, said Waghmare.

The police said the woman was unaware she was calling up a fake call centre. The fraudster, who answered the phone, pretended to be speaking on behalf of the travel portal and sought all details of the victim, including her bank details. On pretext of refunding her amount, he fraudster asked for the UPI number from the victim. The victim shared her UPI number and also the one-time password which she received on her phone. The victim then found that Rs 18,000 was debited from her account at first instance and later Rs 24,999. As she failed to get her money back, she approached the Yerawada police and lodged a case.