You must have heard of card skimming. Now, there is a new kind of fraud called E-wallet skimming. E-wallet skimming is dangerous and a trending cybercrime in India. Many people have lost lakhs of rupees to this fraud. In this fraud, you are enticed to click on a link. The promise is downloading an e-wallet to receive a refund or something of that sort. A single click made through your mobile phone can cost you in lakhs.
This fraud usually happens with online shoppers who have issues with orders. They simply call up the customer care number which comes up on Google without verifying if it is a genuine number. Most of the time, fraudsters post their numbers as customer care numbers of various companies.
See Also: Lost Money from Mobile Wallet? See what new RBI rules say
We now discuss a real-life incident where a woman lost Rs 1 Lakh to an e-wallet skimming fraud.
A woman from Mumbai ordered a saree worth Rs 1,500 from an online shopping portal. As she received a defective product, she wanted to return it and get a refund on the same. She tried contacting the customer support team of the company. She sent a mail to the email Id which was mentioned in the website. But, she did not receive any response from the portal.
She thought of contacting them over the phone and searched for their customer support number in Google. Some random number popped up on Google, and believing it to be genuine, she called up that number. The person who picked up her call asked her to download the Google pay app to receive the refund of Rs 1,500. To download the app, she was sent a link on her phone. As soon as she clicked on the link, Rs 1 Lakh got debited from her bank account.
This type of fraud takes place even on OLX. When sellers have posted their advertisements on OLX, fraudsters contact them, showing interest in making a purchase. To make the payment, the seller will be asked to download the particular e-wallet by clicking on the link sent through SMS. As soon as the link is clicked, fraudsters will wipe out all the money from the bank account.
1. If you are shopping online, make sure you shop only from reputed online shopping portals. Do not shop from random online shopping portals just because they are offering a good discount.
2. Before shopping from any online shopping portals, make sure they have proper contact details.
3. Do not rely on customer support numbers which come up on Google. Instead, you must visit the official website on the company for the contact details.
4. Do not click on any unknown link which is sent to you through SMS or email.
See Also: IRCTC e-Wallet: Everything You Need To Know
Not happy with a product or service? Just visit IndianMoney.com’s complaint portal IamCheated.com and post your issue. We’ll get in touch with the concerned entity and help you with the resolution. With an aim to spread awareness on fraudulent activities, we publish articles and videos on a regular basis. You can also publish reviews about companies on IamCheated.com
