OLX is an online marketplace which facilitates buying and selling of goods like electronics, bikes, cars, and many more. In order to sell goods on OLX, sellers have to first post their advertisement on the platform. As people prefer to do almost everything online, OLX is used by a lot of people in India. While this marketplace is used by many to buy and sell goods, at the same time it is misused by fraudsters to cheat innocent people and make quick money.
The Cyber Crime Cell of Ahmedabad has been receiving many complaints regarding people misrepresenting themselves as Indian Army personnel and cheating buyers on OLX India. On an average, Cyber Crime Cell receive at least 25 such complaints every month. Here, fraudsters are exploiting the goodwill associated with the armed forces to cheat people of their hard earned money.
See Also: How People get cheated on OLX: Review by IndianMoney
Incident No.1
Recently, a 22-year-old man named GautamSain had seen an advertisement on OLX India which listed a Royal Enfield Bullet sporting an army-camouflage paint job for Rs 60,000. The seller who posted the advertisement introduced himself as an Indian Army personnel. Since GautamSain aspired to join the army, he contacted the seller.
The seller told that the reason why he is selling his bike is because he has been transferred from Jamnagar to Pune. Both the buyer and seller were in touch over the phone for a few days and the seller had even sent a picture of his identity card. Later he asked him to deposit Rs 5,000 to ship the motorcycle to his place.
Trusting him, Sain transferred Rs 5,000 to the seller. After a few days, he again asked him to deposit Rs 17,000 as ‘security deposit’ and handed him the receipt through Whatsapp. He kept asking money again and again until Sain transferred him Rs 63,500. After that, the seller blocked him on Whatsapp.
Incident No.2
In another case, a 25-year-old person from Ahmedabad was cheated while he was looking to buy a refrigerator on OLX India. He had seen an advertisement which listed a refrigerator at an affordable price. When he contacted the seller, the seller introduced himself as an army personnel and said that he is selling the refrigerator because he is transferred to another place.
Later, he asked the victim to transfer Rs 7,000 in advance as transportation cost. When the victim was about to transfer the amount using UPI ID on Paytm, he got to know that the bank account was in some other name. When he asked the seller, he said that the account belongs to his commanding officer. Believing it to be true the victim transferred the money. Once the money was transferred the seller switched off his phone.
Not just these two cases, there have many such cases where people have lost their money while purchasing things from OLX. According to cybercrime officials, this fraud is carried out by an unidentified gang of fraudsters and they have no connection with the Indian Army. The fraudsters gain the trust of victimsby showing them genuine identity cards. These identity cards are stolen by fraudsters through social media.
See Also: How To Avoid Online Fraud?
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