With more and more transactions happening online, the dangers of getting scammed has also elevated.?UPI-based transaction methods have definitely tried to make our lives a whole lot simpler. However, negligence on the way to safely use it can come at a hefty cost.
A man from Thane got cheated twice for over Rs 1 lakh, by a scammer on popular social media platform Facebook, who was trying to sell his furniture. The user was approached by a buyer who was interested to purchase the item and even didn¡¯t bargain on the asking amount.?
The buyer asked if the person could transact using UPI based payment wallets like Google Pay, PayTM, to which the seller agreed. Now here¡¯s where the scam commenced. The alleged buyer, instead of sending the amount, sent a ¡®Request¡¯ to make the payment. The seller unknowingly accepted the request, and even gave the OTP, upon request by the scammer. This resulted in the amount getting deducted from his account.
When the seller confronted that the money got deducted instead of getting added to his account, the scammer pretended to apologise and stated that he¡¯ll try sending the amount through Google Pay instead. Now the scammer again requested the same amount on Google Pay, with the victim foolishly entering the PIN details and losing the money again.
Now the scammer sent another link to get the amount refunded -- that¡¯s when the seller realised that he was being scammed.?
The modus operandi of sending Payment Request links on UPI apps isn¡¯t new. There are many scammers like these that target people that have ads on Olx, Quickr or Facebook¡¯s Marketplace section.?
Always remember that you won¡¯t be asked for a pin to accept any amount, and the PIN or OTP is supposed to be confidential -- meaning it cannot be shared with anyone. No bank official will ask you for these details and if someone does ask you for them, hang up and report their number to concerned authorities.