Beware of fraud while shopping online

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Festive season has begun and to attract online shoppers, every website is giving discounts, offers and cashback. Nielsen Media India’s report shows that one out of every two Indians is preparing to spend more in online shopping. Eighty seven percent people in metro cities are preparing for online shopping and in tier-two cities, 86 percent people will be shopping online.

While shopping online, most of the people make the payment online, so that they can avoid the tension of cash on delivery. But as the festive season approaches, cyber fraudsters are also getting ready to cheat you. There has been an increase in online financial fraud cases before the festive season.

You have to be careful of three types of frauds. Fraud related to QR codes, OTP sharing and debit/credit card transactions. According to the research paper of non-profit startup FCRF,  the share of these frauds in cyber crimes happening in the country is more than 77 percent.

Since Covid, payments are being made through QR codes almost everywhere in the country. Along with this, frauds related to QR codes have also increased.

Cyber fraudsters usually send QR codes to people through picture sharing apps or messaging service apps, especially while buying and selling goods online. In the message people are asked to  scan the QR code and enter the UPI PIN to get free cash rewards and other incentives. By doing this, fraudsters gain access to people’s bank accounts and siphon off money. There are fake sites which attract people by giving fake online advertisements and cheat them.

Cyber security expert Kamakshi Sharma says that many shopkeepers have complained about replacing the QR code. Cyber thugs go to shops and remove the QR codes of the shops and replace them with their own plates or sound boxes. So, when the customer makes payment, the money does not go to the shopkeeper’s account but to the fraudster..

Talking about OTP fraud, cyber thugs are creating fake government websites and preying on people in the name of jobs and subsidies. In the name of providing benefits of government schemes or work from home, you are sent a link of a fake site in a mail or message. Your personal details are taken and then you are cheated by asking for OTP.

In OTP fraud, people are instigated to share OTP, sometimes in the name of refund and sometimes in the name of updating KYC.

They call, pretending to be the customer care of the shopping website and win the customer’s trust and get the OTP shared and get access to your bank account. In many cases, cyber fraudsters also claim to be from the bank. They threaten that if you do not update your debit card and account details, your debit card will be blocked and that your account will be suspended.

You are asked to share the debit card details and the OTP received on your phone. Now as soon as you share the OTP, you will become a victim of fraud.

Cyber fraudsters have a huge database and on the basis of this they commit fraud. They separate the data according to search engines or service portals and then weave a trap of fraud.

So, if you are also preparing for shopping during the festive time, then keep these things in mind. Do not share anything from any unknown person or site.  Do not click on the link given in the message from an unknown number.

If you take some precautions like this, then your name will never appear in the list of victims of fraud.