[Miyata]

Reporting OLX scam -

Posted few items for sale. A guy calls from 7357493958. Apparently working in Indian Army and posted in Chennai.

He tried hard to pull of the QR code scam. His whatsapp image shows some army guy. Real shame how they go to any extent for small gains by maligning the Indian Army and trying to profit at the expense of gullible folks.

Gave him an earful. I know, pointless.

[Thermodynamics]

Originally Posted by Miyata

Apparently working in Indian Army and posted in Chennai. His whatsapp image shows some army guy. Real shame how they go to any extent for small gains by maligning the Indian Army and trying to profit at the expense of gullible folks.

There has been a spur of QR scams recently, especially in Bengaluru. Most pretend as Army personnel, exploiting goodwill people have for Army personnel. News

Apparently, "Fraud Magazine" alerted about this scam way back in 2013. Here is a snippet from the report (source)

Opportunistic fraudsters have developed several variations of QR code click jacking. They substitute real QR codes with bogus ones. Victims who scan the fake QR codes are directed to malicious websites with realistic bogus screens. Then, as in any phishing scheme, victims are prompted to provide personally identifiable information (PII), which then fraudsters use for identity theft. Or, depending on the type of device victims use, they’re directed to malicious websites, which include malware that may be directly downloaded to the victims’ smartphones. Possible result? Online banking fraud.

SOBER PRECAUTIONS

Never scan a code box that doesn’t appear to be linked to anything else and has no accompanying text — for example, just stuck on a wall or floor.
Be wary of scanning codes in public places, such as transportation depots, bus stops or city centers.
Check first to see if a code is on a removable sticker. If so, don’t scan.
If you scan a code and find yourself on a web page that asks for PII such as passwords, don’t key in the information. Nothing is that important. You can always investigate the product later.
If you encounter a possible bogus QR code attached to a product, advertisement, poster or building, warn the owner of the site.
Use a scanner app that actually checks the website the QR code is directing you to before it takes you there. Smartphones that use the Android operating system are the most vulnerable. Secure reader apps are available. Just do a search for “secure QR reader app.”

[arun_josie]

Google Pay Customer Support Scam:

Yesterday, my friend's dad lost 24K in this fraud. In short, one of his google pay transaction failed. So, he tried to reach the google pay customer support. Did a search in google, unfortunately google search displayed few fraudsters as google pay customer support. They conned him into transferring 24K.

Its strange that google search doesn't list their customer support details on top instead they list fraudsters numbers who have taken out paid google ads.

For more details you can check the below link,
The nightmare that Google Pay can be .. Making stealing money easier ?

Fraudsters numbers listed on top whereas the google contact details are displayed much lower in the search results.

[Cessna182]

OLX scam alert: someone I know lost a lot of money trying to sell her furniture through OLX. Apparently they gave a google pay link and money was extracted from there.
If you transact on OLX, please use cash. Government may say cash is old, but unless these same babus do something about online fraud, there's no point using a card or a qr code.

Worst thing: these olx scammers will pressurize you. In the case I am talking about, they used vulgar language on the lady and she broke down and relented. Police in India is too busy for a lakh's recovery anyways.

DO NOT use any card/gpay etc on Olx, quickr or other sites. You are atmanirbhar now about law enforcement, as with everything else.

OT: under the watch of these criminals, Indians are replacing Nigerians as the scam capital. The law enforcement is not interested in smaller sums like a lakh. You can talk to any foreigner scammed by these criminals if you think I'm ranting or lying. India is becoming the online scam capital.

[sameer sultan]

I have had good experiences of selling things on OLX over a period of 7-8 years. The response is always good and 90% of the buyers are genuine who initiate a chat. OLX also marks as suspicious some users and warns from time to time not to part with the item without receiving full money. There is good privacy as well, as the mobile no/email ID is masked.

Here I would like to share a recent experience I have had trying to sell a Wrist Watch on OLX.

I posted an ad to sell my watch for 2.5L. I received quite a few replies with offers ranging from 1.75L to 2L. I also received a few spams which OLX marked as suspicious as one user had posted a US mobile number (which is a similar number that also displays in spam calls received on Airtel) asking me to reply on whatsapp. OLX highlighted this user as suspicious so I ignored.

Another user lets call AM posted a message saying is interested in the product and would like to discuss further and asked me to share my number which I did.

I received a whatsapp message from a US number. This was a straight red flag for me. Though this US mobile no was with a different area code to the other number which OLX had marked suspicious.So I went ahead and replied. The name of the person in whatsapp was the same which they had posted under on OLX. This person identified herself as AM residing in Washington DC and said she would like to buy my watch as a 55th birthday gift to her uncle who resides in Bangalore.If the deal is sealed I should courier the watch to the Bangalore address which she will provide. She wanted more details about the watch and also some more photos and a video. I shared all this. She said she is happy and asked me to quote my final price. I asked for 2.35L which she agreed instantly. Red flag no 2 here as I knew going by the many offers I received this price was 25-30K more than what its worth is.

Anyways AM asked me to find out the courier charges and inform her. Since it was Saturday evening Bluedart call centre was closed and Sunday being lockdown I told her I will get the rates by Monday. She was ok with it.I asked her to share the address of her Uncle to check the exact charges. She said she will share it once there is a deal and to find out the approx courier charges to Bangalore.

Her messaging was very professional she addressed me with a Mister affixed to my name every time and the English was also top notch just like how people in US would chat not like the local Jamtara scam artists

On Monday morning I found out the rates from Bluedart Priority courier pick up. I did not message AM since it will be late night in the US.

Around 130PM I received a message from AM asking for the courier charges.The local time in DC was 4am. Well I was checking the timing and all just to make sure its not a scam and that she is really located in the US as claimed by her. As many may know it is very easy to message on whatsapp with an international phone number even when you are in India.

I thought to myself there are many early risers so maybe she is one of them!

I replied with the courier charges which she was OK with it. She then messaged asking will it be possible for me to buy a birthday card for her Uncle and few kilos of dry fruits like walnuts dates and peanuts to be couriered with my watch. I said I can do that. She was very sorry for troubling me. Then she said she will transfer 2.47L including the courier charges and also for the dry fruits. That was 12K more than what I asked for. If I include the courier charges and the cost of the dry fruits around 2 kilos still she was sending 6K more.This was red flag no 3 as I thought why is she trying to send more than what I asked for. I thought maybe she calculated the prices of the dry fruits more than what it actually costs here. I thought I will produce the receipt for the courier and the dry fruits once bought and return the excess amount if any.

Now she asked me for the bank details. I asked her from which bank will she transfer? I assumed as she has an Uncle in Bangalore she could be a NRI so will have an Indian Bank account. She replied from her US bank account and said she does not have an indian bank account as she is a US citizen. I told her then the transfer would take a few days. She insisted it will happen quickly as she will initiate a swift MT103 transfer from Wells Fargo. She asked for the usual bank details like Bank name Account No IFSC and my email id which are required for a local bank to bank transfer within India except for the email ID. She did not ask for the bank swift code. Now she was contradicting herself. I did not probe her further. Shared the bank details she asked for. Made sure I emptied out my account first to just the minimum balance.

I asked for her Uncle’s Bangalore address. She shared it with the name of her Uncle and the mobile no. I googled the address it was of an apartment in a residential complex on Jakkur Main Road. The address looked genuine as the complex was from reputed promoter.

I checked on true caller the mobile no she provided. This was the first big giveaway. The name was displayed differently to the name of her Uncle she provided. It was from Assam and the name was not genuine more like the spammers. i asked her whether the mobile number was correct she replied in the affirmative. She said she will get back to me once the transfer was done.

The next day (Tuesday) around noon I receive an email from Wells Fargo. It said they have initiated a secure swift transfer and it had all my bank details. They asked me to reply with the shipment receipt to authenticate and credit the amount to my account. It also said this transaction is being monitored between Wells Fargo and the Reserve Bank of India with highly encrypted security protocol.

Here is the screen shot of the mail.



As you can notice there are many things which will easily giveaway that this is a fake email and a fraud attempt. There is nothing called a Routine No then the bank email address will not end with usa.com and RBI has got nothing to do with swift transfers.

Anyways immediately after AM messaged me on whatsapp informing about the email that I will receive and she said the money has already been deducted from her account and I should provide the courier receipt for the amount to be credited into my account as this is being done to ensure the safety of both the parties and the bank is acting as an intermediary.

She also sent a Bank transfer receipt.


She asked me to take a video of all the items that I pack before couriering it.

I politely replied saying OLX always warns not to part with the items until the entire money is realised.

She did not reply back.

Her game was up. It is very clear she cooked up the whole story of her Uncle and everything else. It was a fraud attempt to get my watch without paying me.

Few things I want to point out that saved me from falling for this fraud is that right from the beginning of the chat transcripts I was fully aware that this could possibly be a fraud attempt. So I went ahead with it taking all precautions and ready to back out any time.

Another thing that saved me was that I was not desperate to sell the item and nor was I in need of the money urgently. I was selling the watch so i could buy another one. This also kept me from getting into trouble. When there is desperation the mind fades and does not think rationally.

RBI kehta hai jaankar baniye and satark rahiye!

[Indian2003]

I used to bait scammers before. They were specially active after the 2006 Tsunami and many Nigerians set up their own charities.

The local Red Cross had sett op a series of telephone numbers for those who wanted to contribute. when you dialed the number, your telephone company would bill you. There were numbers were for 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 and 500 euros. When you dialled a number you got an automated voice message, "Takk for gaven" (Thank you for your contribution)

I had an email just for the scammers and spread it on the internet.
I replied to every one of the mails I got and asked them to call me, giving them these 200 and 500 euro donation numbers. I told them I wanted to contribute 5000 euros. I told them to call from landlines only as my number was blocked for mobile traffic.

Last time I spoke to one of them, his uncle wanted to kill him.

[Janjua]

I feel I have been a victim of fraud.
Anyone heard about the company 'Get Crisis Code'? They make stickers with QR codes that contain all the personal and medical information of the rider/driver. One can stick those stickers on helmets and their respective vehicles so that God forbid if there is a mishap, then the family can be contacted via the QR code.
I placed an order online and paid for the same via paytm UIP. The money was taken out of my account and I received an email regarding the same from paytm and my bank.
But, I never received any intimation regarding confirmation of my order from Crisis Code.
Their email address is invalid and they never answer the phone listed on their website
Apparently, this company has featured on some TV channels too. Their Instagram page has a post saying something about their CEO quitting. I guess the company has gone under.
Anyone else has any experience dealing with this company? I would be grateful if you can share some details.
Thank you very much.

[dark.knight]

Information Technology is the greatest fraud to have come after snake oil, be it the data harvesting of social media, online payment scams, phishing, clickbaiting and fly-by-season operations for which you've currently fallen victim to.

If you must, always take the pay after delivery option when ordering online, if not do not buy.

You can have a crisis code free of cost, carry a card with all details written in your pocket. QR codes can be misused as well if you're not careful.

[Chetan_Rao]

Isn't wearing a simple dog tag with ID and emergency medical info a far more practical solution?

A QR sticker can get destroyed in multipe ways, while metallic dog tags are virtually indestructible. With a QR sticker, one is also assuming a smartphone capable of scanning QR and/or a user literate enough to use it will always be at hand in an emergency. Neither is guaranteed.

[IshaanIan]

I also doubt the efficacy of a QR sticker for such purposes. As suggested above, a simple dog tag would suffice. Besides the fact that it is an unnecessarily complicated solution for a simple problem, assuming all this user data is stored on a centralized server, hacking it and gaining the personal information of thousands of users of the product including yourself, may also be a danger you could anticipate.

[RedTerrano]

Originally Posted by IshaanIan

... assuming all this user data is stored on a centralized server,

It's not.

Out of curiosity I checked their website and found this.



This would indicate, all relevant information is stored in the QR code itself. This also means, once you purchase the stickers, in case you need to change anything, like say emergency contact number, you need to purchase new stickers.

[JoeTheWanderer]

Originally Posted by Janjua

I feel I have been a victim of fraud.

I don't know about the company - but if you feel that you have been scammed you can dispute the payment.

I understand that you made the payment using UPI. There is a dispute redressal mechanism for UPI payments, please check that at NPCI's website:
https://www.npci.org.in/what-we-do/u...ssal-mechanism


Slightly off topic, you can just generate a QR code on your own (using a site like https://www.the-qrcode-generator.com). Using GIMP you can essentially create a sticker similar to what they have on their site. :-)

[sukarsan]

Originally Posted by sameer sultan

I have had good experiences of selling things on OLX over a period of 7-8 years.

Really! I had the below experience , which I posted on a different forum. Never OLX.


I have been tried to get rid of a decade old fridge on OLX and posted an ad. I quoted an unreasonable price of 3k .Its in barely working condition, but does its job. Within a minute my inbox started getting queries. It was as if the whole world was waiting for a fridge to be sold. I insisted on Cash only payments and one guy got my adress. He checked the fridge and told it was in good condition(i know its not) and without any haggling was happy with the price. He told he will pick it up the next day and was eager to pay an advance. He didnt turn up the next day and my dad blasted me for doing this during corona. I have since stopped responding to messages.

From quora etc, i realize that there is credit/debit scam which is common, which is why I insisted on Cash only. Still these guys are willing to visit to make an offer. I dont understand. Am I being paranoid or is there a scam which I am not sensing?

]I must have received 100 inquiries for an product which is essentially worth 1000/- at best . Are there any genuine buyers in OLX at all?

[aayusht]

Recently I had posted a few furniture items on OLX such as wooden bed, sofa set etc. on behalf of my grandmother.
One person who claimed to be a furniture dealer called up. We spoke and negotiated but surprisingly he agreed to an amount higher than what I expected. He also suggested that he will make part payment as advance and then send his support staff the following day with balance amount as cash.
I agreed but was skeptical on the reliability. He asked for my Google pay ID and I told him I dont have a Google pay account (I do, but the way he was having the conversation with me, I felt he is not trust worthy). I instead provided him bank details with account number and IFSC code. He said he will use his POS machine to transfer the money (I couldnt understand how that works esp. with Google Pay or PayTM). I wasnt comfortable with this approach and declined. I instead told him to transfer online to the bank account only.
He continued to push me for google pay or PayTM account details. Finally I told him, he can either do full cash payment, or if he wants to do the advance payment, he can transfer to the account details shared, else call off the deal. He disconnected the call and never picked up or responded to follow up calls.

OLX has too many unreliable people. Besides scammers, there are many who are just there to low ball. I dont even know if the low ballers are ever serious. Would they actually end up buying something at a low price?

[woodstock3001]

Thank you everyone for sharing their experience.

6 months before 1st lockdown in 2020, a friend of mine was trying to sell his bicycle for around 10k which he bought for 15k around couple of months back.

Back to OLX, there's this guy say PM who was very keen on buying the cycle at same price without seeing it & wanted to pick it same day itself whereas everyone else was either busy with negotiations or wanted to check cycle first.

My friend was delighted that this guy wants to buy it immediately and at same price. Guy PM then requested for UPI details from my friend, to which my super delighted friend gave it instantly & guess what, next minute he receives a msg on his phone with OTP wherein guy PM is requesting money from his account (instead of paying 10K for cycle).

Despite being over excited his mind kicked in & he realized he was about to be scammed. Now all excitement was changed into Anger very quickly. So he called guy PM and gave him good words & cycle left unsolved, which is now a topic of laughter among all of us & during lockdown is being used by my friend to ensure he maintains his shape.

To cut short, please be beware. People will try to scam you with every single tool that is available, but ensure eyes & ears are open so that we do not fall in such traps. [That was the first time i got to know that via UPI ID someone can request money from your bank jus via OTP .

Stay Safe.