Chief Information Security Officer in the Prime Minister's Office Mr. Gulshan Rai has said recently that there has been a 200 per cent rise in cyber incidents in India in the last couple of months. He observed that there have been larger cases of phishing, service issues and ransom ware.
“Cyber fraudsters are adopting modern techniques to cheat innocent people and the OLX platform is being one of these methods to dupe unsuspecting people,” said Ch Y Srinivas Kumar, ACP, Cybercrime (Cyberabad). “The reason is that people believe that buying and selling things on OLX is very easy and that everyone on the platform is trustworthy. Fraudsters are using this trust to cheat innocent people to the tune of several lakhs,” the ACP said as reported in The Telangana Today newspaper dated 23 July 2020.
The above two news reports are sufficient to send shivers among online purchasers. Though digitalisation has proven to be beneficial in many walks of life there are these grey areas which are yet to be taken care of. The online selling portals are being used by many criminals to sell either stolen goods or non-existent goods.
OLX is most favoured portal to cheat the people owing to its popularity. With 55’Th overall ranked portal in India and with average 20 million visits per day, this portal is proving to be a bane for online purchasers. The typical frauds which have been reported to Cyber Crime Helpline, a free voluntary advisory service managed By Adv Dr. Mahendra Limaye’s Cyber Awareness Organisation, are related to Vehicle sell involving a soldier. The seller pretends to be a soldier from Indian Army and offers to sell either two wheeler or Four Wheeler at throw away price due to his transfer from one location to another. He also publishes few photos in Uniform to make people believe that seller is from Indian Army. Many times there are photos of vehicle bearing stickers or some marks related to army so that people believe that vehicle seller is genuinely belonging to Indian Army.
With this much input subsequent transfer of money in form of Advance or clearance charges takes place and buyers transfer money in sellers account through IMPS using mobile wallet transfers. Generally after first transfer of payment the seller tries to get confidence of the buyer and many times sends fake shipment receipt details and also claims balance money. There are various reasons like payment of tax, RTO Clearance, Insurance Clearance etc which are exploited by these fake sellers to extract as much money as possible from the buyer.
Many a times it’s too late when the buyer realises that he has been cheated but by that time huge amount is lost be him. The popularity of the portal and belief of the people that portal has followed due diligence prior to posting the advertisement proves wrong in such matters.
People must understand that these portals take the defence of Intermediary provisions available in Information technology Act and do not claim to be a part of such transaction. They make themselves safe by shifting entire blame on wisdom of Buyers and Sellers.
It is advised that people should follow due diligence by verifying authenticity of such sellers by all possible means. The unbelievable offer itself is best hint that trap is laid for you. The prompt response/acceptance to your offer is another red flag. Always insist for test ride of the said vehicle from someone known to you from the location where vehicle is currently available. Even this insistence of test ride can save you since the seller will avoid the same. You can also insist for video of the seller while riding/driving the vehicle which will also be refused by these fake sellers and will save you. You can also check the account details provided to you with those of the name of the person available on registration certificate of the vehicle.
It’s not bad idea to purchase things online but you must follow the diligence in entire process is the key advice.
The investigation in such frauds is very complicated involving different states jurisdiction as well as different payment wallets and many banks. It has been also observed that people are reluctant to file the police complaints due to reputation issue or other social stigma. The criminals are well aware about these habits of non-reporting of the complaints and hence are becoming bolder.
So prevention and due diligence is the only remedy which can be presently prescribed for the Online Shopping Addicts by the author.
About the Author
Dr. Mahendra Limaye is practising lawyer by profession and specialises in Cyber Litigation, Civil as well as Criminal. He has vast experience of 12 years in the Cyber Litigation and also runs a unique venture in the form of CYBER CRIME HELPLINE, which has provided free remedial guidance to more than 10,000 cyber fraud victims so far across India.
.
No comments:
Post a Comment