News

Got scammed & mentally harassed by fake RSA service calls; Lost Rs 4500

I was amazed by the sheer confidence and audacity. Unlike regular fraudsters, they didn't hang up the call but kept calling me again and again.

BHPian Scammed_NowWhat recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

10 days back I received a call asking how many kilometres my honda car has travelled after the last service? I said I didn't know and the caller asked if she could call the next day.

A few days later she called me to tell me that they were sending RSA card from Honda. I believed it must be a genuine Honda so I trusted them. She had told me it would be Rs 3500.

I also received a WhatsApp message from Shiprocket that my courier will be delivered that day. It was Rs 4500 now. I discussed with my family that I was 3500 on call. But we trusted Honda so went ahead with the plan.

Received the package and paid Rs 4500 to the delivery boy. Instantly got a call from the centre saying you have received the card and now send the photos on WhatsApp. This is when my instincts clicked but it was already late. I contacted my dealer who denied any such scheme.

I called the centre number and she said that it is a genuine registered company and they have bought my details from the insurance company that registered my car. I said I wanted my money back and she said "I guarantee you I will return your money tomorrow morning. I am also a human. I have to tell my parents where I work. Please be assured."

The next day I got a call from her senior who said that she will send me the recording and she never said she was from Honda. She had said "service 24x7" so she will not return the money because I consented to it. They denied admitting that they were fraudsters. They were saying things like "we are a registered company. You called my employee at midnight. I am calling you from my personal number. Which company does that? You have to trust me." There was no Truecaller complaint against their numbers. She even used reverse psychology on me and said that I will face karma for getting angry at her.

They asked me to send card pictures on Whatsapp and the delivery boy's number to authorize my card. When I deleted the messages she replied "aisa thode hota hai". She called me many times and when I picked up I heard another girl saying to some other customer in the background "yes be assured you will get your money back". She even said that I was lying that I had received the card when I refused to send its pictures.

This is how I figured out that they are rooting me in for an even bigger scam by promising to return the money. I blocked the numbers and considered the fraudulent money to be a type of charity donation to someone who might have needed it for something in their life.

I called the number on the card. The man who picked up the call acted shocked that I called them a scam. He said it was genuine RSA service and I should not bug him because I might need to call him someday for service. I was amazed by the sheer confidence and audacity. Unlike regular fraudsters, they didn't hang up the call, but kept calling me again and again. They kept insisting that they were a genuine company and that I would get service after registration.

The scam didn't hurt me as much as the emotional abuse and verbal attack. I got a call from Maya who said she was from Honda. Later she denied ever saying Honda; she said she would only return my money if she had said Honda company. Then I got a call from Neha Verma who said to me that I will face karma for getting angry at them. Then Maya asked me to send documents and pictures to her WhatsApp. I denied and she yelled at me about why I had lied to her. What did I lie about? If you have received the package; if you have got the package then send the pictures. I said I don't want my money back, keep it.

Yesterday they relentlessly called me once again. Neha Verma said I am ready to return your money on PayTM but you have destroyed your card and sent me a picture on WhatsApp. I folded it and sent it to her. Then I got a call from Shweta Tiwaari who downright abused me that I need to learn conversational manners, and do I want my money back or not, if yes then do what they say.I kept insisting I knew they were frauds and I did not want my money back but they were harassing me mentally. I could not believe their audacity and confidence. They have extorted my money fraudulently. On top of that, they are psychologically harassing me "Why are you being so hopeless? Why are you being so negative? You have set in your mind that it is fraud so you're not listening to me."

I told her my father is undergoing cancer treatment and we need every single rupee right now, I genuinely believed they were from Honda. She said that she also had a family she understood my emotions and will return my money. The next day they were harassing me in a group.

I think it was the last time I believed in humanity. I have blocked their numbers. Hope they don't misuse my database. I watched tons of scammer videos on YouTube today to educate myself on their tactics.

I finally realized that they will not refund my money and this promise is another scam. They will probably send fake money and then harass me more. So I blocked them.

Here's what BHPian ashis89 had to say on the matter:

Several members, including me, have received such calls and shared them on different threads. I must have received such a call twice or thrice in the past 2 years. The price was 3500 for 15 yr (!) RSA contract. Hearing this deal, I simply disconnected the call each time without any further interaction.

Found these two threads on such scams:

  1. Thread 1
  2. Thread 2

Here's what BHPian lsjey had to say on the matter:

Sorry that you got scammed. You did well in blocking their numbers. Please move forward and enjoy your car.

I too have received multiple calls from such RSA scammers. A lot of new timeshare tourism guys also call. These guys buy our data from unscrupulous dealers and employees of insurance companies.

Here is how I deal with them:

  1. I pick up the phone and say only "Hellloooo" in a sing-song voice. Then wait for their response.
  2. When they start talking, I pick out if they are from a local call centre or not and choose Tamil if they are not local and Hindi if they are from TN. The point is to act like an uneducated villager and that they have got the wrong number.
  3. If they ask me if I'm so and so and all, I only act confused and don't respond. If the caller is genuine, they will tell me their name and organization and why they are calling first.
  4. I do get brickbats for speaking in Hindi from local call centre guys, but I bear with them. The Tamil call centre guys will immediately switch to English when I start responding in Hindi. I keep saying that I don't know any other language than Hindi.
  5. My personal experience has been that the number of calls gets drastically reduced based on this strategy.

These cold-calling fraudsters are becoming more and more sophisticated. But they have a big Achilles heel. That being their recruits are fluent only in their mother tongue. They mostly do not have skills in either English or other vernacular languages of India. We need to utilize the diversity of our country to our advantage.

Here's what BHPian vredesbyrd had to say on the matter:

  1. Always cross-verify/avoid deals related to insurance, car warranty, car insurance, credit cards
  2. 90% of commercial dealings on WhatsApp are a scam (unless it's a restaurant)
  3. Always stick to dealerships and your insurance provider for RSA. These usually are the best sources
  4. Every company in India leaks data like a poorly maintained E39 leaking oil. Half the country already has your mobile number, credit card, address and car registry (so they have mine as well)
  5. The scammers you dealt with are of the opposite gender and they can simply call false harassment police will be ready to ruin your life without evidence so let it go

Here's what BHPian lonetraveller89 had to say on the matter:

Look buddy, they played you good and you fell for it. What’s done is done and you have emerged from this situation as a wiser man. It’s ok, it happens to the best of us. But don’t let that bring you down. And you should’ve chosen a better forum handle. Because the truthful answer to “scammed, now what?” is “nothing, let bygones be bygones and move on”. Just block these numbers or mark them as spam via TrueCaller and go take a long, spirited drive in your Honda to shrug this off.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.

 
Driven by india