We keep hearing about scams that happen with people around us. We keep dealing with situations as well. And as simple as it is to ask people to be careful, it’s very hard to actually do that. One of the reasons might be that that the inherent nature of these scams is to look believable. The only way we can stay safe is when we know that they exist.
So here are some common scams so that you have a better picture of things:
1. “You might get a call from someone saying that he is calling from police station and a case has been lodged upon you. Then they will ask for bribe to not register FIR.”
2. “Add rental flat scams, where the deal would be too good to be true and he will ask your token amount as deposits and some other thing just show flat.”
3. “If you are selling something on OLX, don’t click on any link to “receive payment” before they even see your item.”
4. “Someone will call your landline saying they are from the insurance commissions or something and say your grandfather had made an investment of xyz amount in xyz mutual funds, you need to provide us with the folio number. Once you provide it, you will be asked to pay a “bounced installment” of some amount.”
5. “QNET. It’s a multi level marketing scheme which is so blatantly dishonest that I’m surprised people actually fall for their flashy spiel and sink hard earned money into it.”
6. “Country Club vacations: They are the ones who employ various people in malls that will ask you to fill in a lucky draw coupon. After some days after that you will receive a phone call regarding you winning some crockery gift in the same lucky draw. They will ask you to come to some random place where a bunch of people will be addressing you about some goddamned holiday scheme.”
7. “For high value items, amazon and many other companies require you to give an OTP in order for you to receive it. Unless you tell the OTP, the order won’t be marked delivered to you. Scammers might try and get you to tell them the OTP, and once you do, keep the package. There are also delivery guys who would break the seal beforehand, probably replace it and then put it back.”
8. “Instagram Stores: They’ll steal pictures from other accounts/google and post them, pretending they are selling the items. They will not offer COD. Once payment is made, they’ll never send the product and deactivate their account.”
The only thing we can do well, is try and know as much as there is to know. Awareness is key.
