A 27-year-old woman from Ahmedabad has filed a cyber fraud complaint after allegedly losing ₹23,040 in an online shopping scam involving a fake Instagram page posing as fashion brand H&M.
According to the FIR lodged at Danilimda police station, the complainant—Prakrutiben Jagdishbhai Vediya, a resident of Danilimda working at a private firm—was cheated while trying to buy women’s clothing advertised on Instagram.
Police said she came across a page named “Women Garments” on April 15 that used H&M branding and offered discounted clothing. Believing it to be genuine, she placed an order worth ₹1,000 and paid via a QR code shared by the page.
Later, the fraudsters allegedly contacted her and claimed the order had failed, asking for additional payments under various reasons such as registration fees, GST, refund processing, card renewal and payment verification.
Trusting their assurances of a full refund, she made multiple transfers to different payment IDs and QR codes provided by the accused.
The fraud came to light when the suspects continued demanding more money, including an additional ₹11,500, despite repeated promises of a refund.
The woman then contacted the National Cyber Crime Helpline and later approached the police after receiving no refund.
Police said the accused used multiple payment accounts and phone numbers to run the scam through the fake Instagram page. A case has been registered against unidentified persons, and investigators are tracing the digital transaction trail.