Chennai, Sep 8 : Cybercrime police in Coimbatore have issued a strong alert to the public after nearly 50 residents of the city fell victim to a scam in which fraudsters posed as customer care executives of online travel firms to steal money from their bank accounts.

Police have urged citizens to remain extremely vigilant and not to trust unknown callers or numbers found online.

The latest case involved a 60-year-old woman from Kerala, residing in Kovaipudur, who lost Rs 18 lakh. She had booked a hotel stay through a popular travel app, but cancelled her trip. While searching online for refund options, she came across a 10-digit mobile number claiming to be the company's customer care contact.

'When she dialled the number, a man posing as an executive from the popular app company provided her with an email address for raising a refund request. Soon after she sent the email, she received a WhatsApp message from another person, who instructed her to download an APK file. Believing it was part of the refund process, she installed the app on her phone, which gave the fraudsters remote access,' an officer from the cybercrime wing said.

The scammer then asked her to transfer Rs 1 to a specified account as a 'test transaction.' When she entered the bank details, the hackers captured her credentials and siphoned off Rs 18 lakh from her account.

The woman lodged a complaint with the cybercrime police. Police said this was not an isolated case. In recent months, dozens of people in the city have been duped in a similar fashion, losing money after downloading malicious applications or trusting fraudulent helplines they found online.

Officials stressed that tickets and hotel bookings made through certified platforms such as this popular app can only be cancelled via their official websites or apps, and no genuine customer care agent would ever ask for third-party downloads or direct transfers.

'Fraudsters are constantly coming up with new tactics. People must remain vigilant, avoid searching for random contact numbers on the internet, and never share banking details with unknown callers or install unauthorised applications,' the officer cautioned.

Cybercrime police reiterated their appeal to the public to stay alert against such scams and immediately report any suspicious attempts, stressing that awareness and caution are the strongest safeguards against cyber fraud.

/IANS