Shivaji Park’s Oven Fresh at wits’ end as cons dupe patrons of Rs 5-10 lakh

Scores of patrons of a popular Shivaji Park restaurant have been cheated after they tried to book tables or place an order online Blaming cyber crooks for the con the staff at Oven Fresh said they have complained to the police but havenrsquot received any help The restaurant has now put up a board outside saying it doesnrsquot seek card details or OTPs during online dealings with customersThe staff at Oven Fresh said they have been getting 23 complaints every day Since November 2020 they claim the cons have duped at least 100 patrons of Rs 510 lakhSachin More managerldquoThe problem started during the lockdown in November 2021 when only online orders were accepted Some people created fake web pages that would show up on top whenever a customer ran a Google searchrdquo said Sachin More managerldquoOur first customer who was cheated lost nearly Rs 25000 The frauds told the customer that they were taking only online orders They asked the customer to send money via Gpay Then they sought card details saying they would refund the money to the card if the order got cancelled in any way They also coaxed customers to share OTPsrdquo More saidA board put up by the eatery informing patrons that it doesnrsquot seek their private infoThe manager said most customers run a search and note the number that they see first ldquoNow the fraudsters are duping people in the guise of table booking If any customer calls on their number they ask for Rs 500 and then seek card details using the same refund story They are also sending some QR codes to customers to send money but itrsquos a traprdquo said MoreThe restaurant said it never seeks money to book a table ldquoA few customers filed complaints after they lost money thinking they were dealing with us But the police didnrsquot take our complaint Our restaurantrsquos reputation is at stake We face abuse daily from customers who were cheated On Monday we received two complaints from customersrdquo said the managerDeepa Sugandh who looks after public relations said ldquoWe visited the Shivaji Park police station but they refused to register our complaint saying it will be handled by the cyber cell at Worli When we went to the Worli cyber police even they also refused to register a case on the grounds that the amount is less than Rs 10 lakh We are fed up with these fraudstersrdquolsquoWas asked to share card info OTPrsquoShivaji Park resident Vaishnavi Joshi a dentist was asked to pay R500 when she tried a book a table at Oven Fresh onlineThe 25yearold dentist told midday ldquoI paid the money via Gpay he asked for my card details and CVV number While I shared the info the transaction failed twice due to some technical error They asked me to share OTP on the third attempt which I declined The man on the other side started abusing me I visited the restaurant and learnt that many customers have been cheated in their namerdquoMahim resident Jiten Gala said ldquoI lost Rs 175 lakh while booking a table They first asked me to pay Rs 00 and then sought card and CVV details for confirmation of the table After the money was deducted I called the number and the person abused me before disconnecting the callrdquoBusinessman Mayur Jain a Mahin resident said he wanted to buy a cake for his sonrsquos birthday ldquoThe price was Rs 730 and I paid the money via Gpay I was then asked to give my debit card details which I did Then I received a message for a transaction of Rs 90000 and an OTP But I didnrsquot share the OTP When I visited the restaurant I learnt about the fraud Thankfully I lost only Rs 730Worli resident Priti Gada wanted to order a cake on New Yearrsquos Eve She ran a Google search and called the number After sharing her card details and OTP she lost Rs170 lakhlsquoTold them to visit local copsrsquoKishor Shinde senior inspector of the cyber cellrsquos south region said ldquoWe register cases where the amount is more than R10 lakh If the amount is less we ask complainants to visit the local police station We are helping the police stations with technical help to trace the accused For this reason our staff told the restaurant representative to go to the Shivaji Park police station and file a complaintrdquoSenior inspector Satish Kasbe of Shivaji Park police station said ldquoI am not aware of this incident We will register a case if the restaurant is facing issues due to fraudstersrdquo100Approx no of customers cheated so far