[rovingeye]

Next time, you should ask for a photo ID of the intended recipient as well. These guys manufacture fake IDs at will, but at least you'll have made him earn his money by doing some work - money that he will not get in the end.

[im_srini]

Originally Posted by skanchan95

This seems to be a newer scam where the scamster hacks into someone's e-mail id, retreives his/her contacts and then creates a new-mail id from another domain. Then impersonating the person, he sends an e-mail.
...
The end is near as I am running out of excuses...

You could make a TED talk out of it, just saying

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QdPW8JrYzQ

Originally Posted by skanchan95

...
In the debit/credit card scams, the scamsters are Indians who boast that they can never get caught.
...

Yes, these people are well organized, even running scam enterprises which offer cab-service to their "employees" !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7q9Nqo71-kQ

This channel is a real eye-opener

[ksameer1234]

This is very interesting read and I am hooked to this!!

Originally Posted by skanchan95

needed Dr Konyak's PAN no. for the NEFT to be "approved" from their end, without PAN no, NEFT could not be done.

Just got a bit worked up by how smartly you are scamming the scamster and tried studying the pan number provided. It definitely does not belong to some Konyak since fifth letter of pan number is M hence last name of pan holder begins with M. Man, I feel like Sherlock!

Edit: Some more investigation later, the PAN does not look to be a valid one.

[rohiT Nonu]

Originally Posted by skanchan95

My intention was never to give ideas to twisted minds, but rather make the readers aware of such e-mail impersonation frauds. It is very easy to fall prey to such frauds.
The end is near as I am running out of excuses but guess what? That fool still hasn't understood.

Good that you are keeping him engaged in an illusion thereby restricting the scamster to prey on other genuine people. But your help will only remain as a help until you are playing this Comedy Circus with him. However, be cautious as well.
But why don't you take a step forward and recruit Cyber Crime Branch guys into this drama? Try visiting a nearby Cyber Crime Branch HQ in your City and inform them at least. Just a word of caution/help. Take care dear BHPian.

Do keep us informed. Thank You.

[skanchan95]

Originally Posted by rovingeye

Next time, you should ask for a photo ID of the intended recipient as well. These guys manufacture fake IDs at will, but at least you'll have made him earn his money by doing some work - money that he will not get in the end.

Originally Posted by ksameer1234

This is very interesting read and I am hooked to this!!

Just got a bit worked up by how smartly you are scamming the scamster and tried studying the pan number provided. It definitely does not belong to some Konyak since fifth letter of pan number is M hence last name of pan holder begins with M. Man, I feel like Sherlock!

Edit: Some more investigation later, the PAN does not look to be a valid one.

Originally Posted by rohiT Nonu

Good that you are keeping him engaged in an illusion thereby restricting the scamster to prey on other genuine people. But your help will only remain as a help until you are playing this Comedy Circus with him. However, be cautious as well.
But why don't you take a step forward and recruit Cyber Crime Branch guys into this drama? Try visiting a nearby Cyber Crime Branch HQ in your City and inform them at least. Just a word of caution/help. Take care dear BHPian.

Do keep us informed. Thank You.

Thanks to all of you, I had an another idea to troll him further and he kept on falling so foolishly for each of them that I was having trouble keeping a straight face as I typed those e-mails yesterday.

Yesterday morning (Dec 6) , I sent the scamster two urgent mails asking for Chingom Knoyak's PAN Card copy as my fictional bank wanted it to complete the NEFT transfer. I even told him that a Digilocker generated PAN card copy is enough (In its current version, there is no provision in Digilocker to "generate" digital PAN card copy). I purposely typed the PAN no wrongly, but he did not even check that.

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Ramachandran Govindan <XXXXX@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Dec 6, 2018 at 11:36 AM
Subject: Re: HELP
To: D**** S**** <d*****s****@hotmail.com>

The bank is asking for a xerox or scanned copy of Dr Konyak's PAN card as they say the PAN no you gave - Gazpn0293g belongs to someone else.

Please send it urgently as it is the only thing required now for the NEFT to go through.

The bank said even a digilocker generated copy is acceptable

Poor guy felt stressed after 3-4 days of sleepless nights(probably) and lust for Ramachandran Govindan's money , that he seemed to have lost all command over his "polished" English.

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: D**** S**** <d*****s****@hotmail.com>
Date: Thu, Dec 6, 2018 at 11:55 AM
Subject: Re: HELP
To: Ramachandran Govindan <XXXXX@gmail.com>

I cannot get the details. The surgeon is not sharing PAN card copy.

Please i don't know what to do again because am tired of all this stress. Please if kindly stay with your money if the bank is asking for something i can't get.

Thanks,
D****

It confirms Sameer's suspicion that the PAN nos were fake as he was not willing to share the PAN card copy. The only thing that may have been correct were the Bank Account nos & IFSC code. Even the names would have been fake.

Wanting to put an end to all of this drama, I wanted to reply to him with the choicest expletives after this but the devil in me got tempted by the idea reeling him in further by enticing him with funds transfer through UPI.

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Ramachandran Govindan <XXXXX@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Dec 6, 2018 at 12:26 PM
Subject: Re: HELP
To: D**** S**** <d*****s****@hotmail.com>

How about funds transfer through UPI?

I am not well versed with funds transfer through Mobile UPI but i am willing to learn and do the transfer through mobile UPI

Please i really want to help

My bank UPI app needs either of the following for funds transfer
1. Beneficiary AC no and IFSC code
Or
2. Beneficiary Aadhar no.
Or
3. Beneficiary mobile no and MMID

I want to do it today but found out that UPI transaction limit set my bank is 49000 per transaction. So i cannot transfer 1 Lakh in one go. I will have to spilt it into three transactions lets say 34000 33000 and 33000. So how to transfer? I mean all three amounts into one account or one amount each in the three different accounts you gave?

As soon as i get confirmation from you, i will transfer. I have already added all three beneficiaries in the UPI app and waiting your confirmation for transfer.

By now, the scamster had lost all hopes of getting the money, but still had may be 10% of hope and he replied....

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: D**** S**** <d*****s****@hotmail.com>
Date: Thu, Dec 6, 2018 at 12:50 PM
Subject: Re: HELP
To: Ramachandran Govindan <XXXXX@gmail.com>

just try all your best to transfer to the account if you really know you want to help.

please kindly transfer to the accounts you have with you. you can transfer the amounts as you please...splitting to all three accounts is also ok.

D****

So then I raised his anxiety levels further by sending him fake UPI receipts in the evening and ask him to confirm the receipt of funds in the respective accounts.
!!!!






A reply comes within seconds:

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: D**** S*** <d****s****@hotmail.com>
Date: Tue, Dec 6, 2018 at 6:07 PM
Subject: Re: HELP
To: Ramachandran Govindan <*******@gmail.com>

Thanks a lot, I'll keep you posted as soon as i confirm the transfer.

Thanks,
D****

Since then, there's been a deathly silence from him. Thereby confirming the realization that he was taken for a royal ride for the past one week or so, just like he may have done to other innocent people. Although this scamming/getting scammed probably is a routine for him, I hope that scammer never forgets one Ramachandran Govindan!!!

[Sankar]

I received this SMS from a BHMIDEAL yesterday

"Congratulations,
Dear Customer, Only You got Xiaomi special offer Buy Latest Redmi Note 6 Pro At Just Rs.11/- Only,Hurry Up Click Now - https://bit.ly/2DPgZkk"

The short URL leads to:
"https://www.mi-sale.in/redmi-note-6-pro/%3FRNType=product&product_id=redmi-note-6-pro/promo/webfile/globalweb/apply/Redmi-Note-6-Pro.php"

A phishing website. None of the links or buttons work except the Buy Now. COD obviously doesnt work because they say...

"Please complete the payment within 59 : 46.
Currently We are not taking COD Orders Due To Sale Reason You Have to Pay with Given Options..Otherwise Your Order cancelled"

[dailydriver]

Feast your eyes on these super expensive items that a colleague's friend's online friend has (supposedly) shipped him from the UK.









All that is (again supposedly) needed to lay hands on these valuables is a small custom duty of ₹28,500/-, to be paid to an officer's bank account.

And this deposit must be made at the earliest, lest the Delhi customs decide to open up the unclaimed package and discover a bundle of dollar notes secretly stashed inside: lovingly sent as a memento of cross-border friendship.

Humanity is not yet dead!

[simeonovitch]

While scrolling OLX, I happened to stumble upon this seller.
And all his listings seem weird.

For instance he has a 2017 Ford Endeavour Petrol on sale
A 2017 Bentley continental GT for 4.8 Lakhs
A 2017 Chevy Captiva LPG
A 2013 Polo Highline for 75 lakhs (yes seventy five)

And none of the pics match with the car being advertised.

https://www.olx.in/nf/user/400000791

[sudev]

And the pictures are all random...virtually none match the text.

Reminds me of Bharatpur scam...cars posted for sale at too good to be true values. Buyers land up only to be kidnapped and ransomed for money. Look up newspapers from last year from Agra / Jaipur.

[Funny]

Originally Posted by simeonovitch

And all his listings seem weird.
And none of the pics match with the car being advertised.

These type of sellers are very common nowadays on Olx. Looks like some dealer's employee or possible BOT to me. All the Ads have similar structure and there are a lot of Ads posted by the user. So possibility of mistakes are high, they rarely proof-read their postings. Anyway I'd stay away from such spammers, they are just flooding Olx with their Ads which doesn't make much sense and in that process, genuine Ads from Individual sellers are lost somewhere down the pile of Ads.

[mayankk]

Originally Posted by sudev

And the pictures are all random...virtually none match the text.

Reminds me of Bharatpur scam...cars posted for sale at too good to be true values. Buyers land up only to be kidnapped and ransomed for money. Look up newspapers from last year from Agra / Jaipur.

Its even better once you see the detailed ad. For instance, this ford aspire listing has pictures of random things, and the only picture of a car that is there ain't even an aspire, and is picture of a picture.
One of the laziest scammers ever, and if one is going to fall for this level of ineptitude, I think thats positively Darwinian.

[maverickxx2006]

I couldnt find relevant section so posted here, Mods pls move this to appropriate one.

I wanted to highlight one scam which I encountered recently while selling one item on OLX.

Here is how the scam went.

I posted one advt on OLX for selling one article for Rs 10,000. I got a call from one person saying he is Akhil Kumar working in Army in Vimannagar in Pune. He tried to bargain the amount but then immediately settled for Rs 10,000. He said he will pay some advance to book the article and asked me to take the advt down so that no one will further approach me. I said first look at the article and then pay. He said, he believes me and insisted on paying advance (too good to be true in present days).

I told him that transaction would be done in cash only. Here he said that cash is not possible and he has some POS terminal through which he will pay by Google Pay or asked me to send my debit card or credit card no on which he will transfer money. I refused to accept payments on cards. Later he insisted on sharing the card details so that he can send money (here alarm bells started ringing).

Now the sequence of events:
1. I shared my Google pay ID.
2. He calls me up saying he has sent me a advance of Rs 5,000 and pls accept the request in Google Pay by inserting UPI PIN.
3. I check my Google pay and I opened the request and see there is message that payment is being received. However I realize that these are actually the words written in notes, the request is actually for payment (which I need to pay and amount will be debited from my account).
4. The person calls me and insists to accept it and inserting my UPI PIN.
5. I realize that request is for payment and not for receipt and amount will be debited from my account. I decline the request and inform the person that he has sent a wrong request and if he is trying to fool me.
6. He says he is sorry and by mistake he did it and will send another request. I get few more request which are again similar asking for debit from my account.
7. I decline all the requests and tried calling the person. His phone is switched off.

I was about to be duped of Rs 5,000 in this Google pay scam which these buggers are now operating on OLX (may be on other sites aswell).

Later I did some googling and was shocked to see that this has been prevalant on OLX and similar incident has happened last week itself to one seller in Pune. These buggers are sending debit requests (with wordings as payment received) instead of payment receivables and duping unsuspecting people.

[HappyWheels]

Oh boy! Did not know this OLX and Google Pay was an ongoing scam.

I am selling few furniture's at Palakkad and have posted the advt in OLX. I have had similar requests of people stationed up North asking for them and saying they will pay using Google Pay and we are to ship the items to them.

Fortunately, being the paranoid guy, said no and edited all advt to say only cash accepted.

[gkveda]

Originally Posted by maverickxx2006

I couldnt find relevant section so posted here, Mods pls move this to appropriate one.

I wanted to highlight one scam which I encountered recently while selling one item on OLX.

Here is how the scam went.

I was about to be duped of Rs 5,000 in this Google pay scam which these buggers are now operating on OLX (may be on other sites aswell).

Exactly same scenario happened to me yesterday.

I got a call from number +91-96713 01103 and the caller said, he is Sanjeeb Kumar and interested in the item that I posted. Negotiated the item for just 200 Rs. less (1st Suspect - Too good to believe) and asked me if I have payTM or Paypal

I told him to hold on, and asked him, where does he stay. He said, Devanahalli which is around 40 kms from my house. The item is priced at 4800 Rs. To transport the item to Devana halli, it takes 2000 rupees minimum. I expressed the concern. He said, he has his transportation vehicles travelling through out Bangalore and he takes care of this.

Then, I said, I use only Google pay. He asked me to share QR CODE or send screenshot of the QR Code so that he transfers money immediately. So, I sent the same. Within 1 min, he calls me back, says, he would pay in 2 steps, 2000 and 2600 in next 5 mins and asks me to do what he says. (Step by step guidance,)
1. Open Google APP
2. You would have received a request to accept the payment done. Just click on "Pay"

On seeing the screen, I could immediately see, it is a "request for Payment". Money gets debited from my account if I pay.

He says, that is how Google Pay has started operating recently

I was shocked but started getting serious doubts. I said, I will accept only through cash. No other mode of payment accepted. He said, he will come by 2 PM but never appeared. When I call him from my mobile, he has blocked my mobile as well.

I think we should share this with some authorities so that they can catch this scammers

[Jaggu]

Posted some items in OLX and within minutes was bombarded with messages for mobile number, turns out all of them are scamsters trying to pull off UPI scam. One guy even sent me UPI QR code and quickly deleted the message when i questioned him back.

OLX did mark then as suspected fraud in couple of hours, but be very careful while using the app. 90% of the message received were of these scamsters asking for mobile number. Unless OLX takes some serious step against this the platform is going to suffer big time.