Did you know that in India we have approx. 560 million internet users. The number is only supposed to grow significantly from here and estimated to reach as high as 650 million by the end of year 2023. As an effect of this rate of internet penetration, internet scams in India has risen sharply as well. In this article we are going to discuss about top 10 Internet scams which has resulted in lots of money loss of Victims.

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Phishing – Internet Scams in India

Phishing is still one of the popular mode of internet scams in India. In this scam attack, scammer sends a link of banking website to victim. This link looks very similar to original banking website. There will usually be some message along with the link. The message can be about some amount being debited or credited in Victim’s account. This message create a panic or curiosity in the mind of Victim and he falls for immediately following the link provided in the message to login to bank’s website to check his account balance. Little does he know that this banking website is a clone of banking website which is used to take credentials of Victim.

Once victim enters his username and password to login on this clone website, there is no next page. It usually will just show no response or some other error message. However behind the scene what has happened is that victim’s credentials has been sent over to scammer. Now scammer uses this information to continue withdrawing partial or full amount from Victim’s account.

Online shopping – Internet Scams in India

Online shopping is another popularly growing way of scamming people in India. This is because of the e-commerce growth and continuously increasing popularity of online shopping in India.

Scammers usually send a jaw dropping price of a product with the message to buy immediately as the stock is limited. These shopping websites either will be a clone of one of the popular e-commerce website or it will be a completely new website created only for shopping scams. You will be able to purchase the product as if it is an original website and will be able to make the online payment. However, you are never going to receive any products from them. Also, usually there will not be any customer support number available make a complaint. These kind of websites remain keep closing quite frequently as scammer keep changing domain name of the website to continue scamming.

Coupon Scam – Internet Scams in India

Coupon scam is quite similar to online shopping scam. In this scam victim usually receives a message with up-to 90% discount on certain products. Victim also receives an URL to follow. Once victim clicks on the URL he will be taken to a survey website where he will have to enter lots of personal details which then gets used in Online identity stealing scams.

Online Identity Stealing Scam – Internet Scams in India

In online identity stealing scam, scammer takes all the important information of a person and then pretends to be that person to perform other scams. These information may include but not limited to Full Name, Age, DOB, Aadhar Card Number, Passport Number and Banking Details.

After all these sensitive information is collected then scammer moves onto using these to perform another crime such as opening fake banking accounts, buying SIM card or getting new driving license and so on. These documents will then be used during criminal activities so scammer’s original identity remains concealed.

Friends Request on Facebook – Internet Scams in India

You might be wondering why your friend is sending you request from his new Facebook account? Well, chances are he is not your friend but a scammer hiding behind by using your friend’s identity. Often there will be immediate demand to get 5000 to 10000 rupees on virtue of their mother/father or other relatives being sick. Notice they may not pick any of your calls if you try to call them through Facebook messenger. There will be many excuses such as he is in hospital so can’t pick up the call and so on.

You should be immediately calling your friend on his mobile number and letting him know that there is a scammer using his identity to do some scams. This may save your friend from getting into some big trouble.

Fake Employment opportunities – Internet Scams in India

Since COVID-19 has hit there are huge number of employees are being laid off. Which has spiked number of job seekers. Guess who is taking advantage of this situation? A Scammer !!!

Scammer takes advantage of this opportunity and calls job seeker candidate. There will be promises made that there is a suitable job opportunity which candidate can get immediately. Of course there will be demand of some small amount of money anywhere between 2,000 to 5,000.

Remember the golden rule that there is no company which demands money from candidate. So you should be blocking such scammer and possibly letting your nearest police authority know about this crime.

Olx Scams – Internet Scams in India

Olx is a popular platform to buy and sell stuff. Scammers use this platform to call new sellers. Usually scammer will be showing huge interest and urgency to buy the stuff which seller is selling.

In order to pay the amount which seller is expecting in return of his goods, scammer provides a QR code. Scammer claims that if seller scans this QR code he will get the required money in his Paytm. However what happens is exactly the opposite of it. All the money available in seller’s account gets transferred to Scammer’s account.

Remember to not scan any QR code sent by any stranger. QR code can contain any set of hidden instructions which can wipe out all your money.

ATM Pin Expiry Scams – Internet Scams in India

As part of this scam, victim gets a call from scammer saying that his ATM Pin is expired. There will be demand from Scammer to verify victim’s KYC (Know your customer) detail. Scammer may also threaten the person. A common threat can be that ATM and bank account will be permanently disabled if verification is not done.

If you provide these details which means you are naïve enough to fall prey for his next step. Scammer then goes on to ask about OTP information. Behind the scene what scammer is using all these information to login to your banking account. After a successful login, scammer will transfer all the money to his account.

PayTM KYC Scam – Internet Scams in India

Paytm KYC scam is getting popular by scammer as well. Scammer will usually ask to take control of your computer to verify your identity. Remember all they want is to get access to your computer to steal important data.

Never provide access of your personal computer to any stranger. No matter what the urgency is. There is no legitimate company which asks for remote access of your computer for any sort of verification.

Online Dating Scam – Internet Scams in India

Online dating scam or also known as romance scam is growing with the popularity of the dating applications. Scammer often creates a fake profile and then approaches opposite gender through these online applications. After few days of conversations and closeness there will be demand of hefty amount of money.

Money can be asked by giving various excuses. Example is asking money by reasoning medical treatment. In some cases scammer may also start blackmailing Victim.

Remember to report the person as spam and block them immediately. You need not to be worry about anything while blocking them. If they still keep on threatening them make a police complaint.

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