HYDERABAD: It’s not every day that you agree to buy a product for a certain amount, and end up spending thousands, and perhaps even lakhs of rupees more for it. But that’s exactly what’s being happening to customers of late on online marketplace OLX. Manish Kumar (name changed), an MNC employee, found a bike he liked on olx.in, and agreed with the seller to purchase it for 80,000. However, he ended up paying 2 lakh. Akanksha (name changed), an engineering student, meanwhile, agreed to buy a scooter through the online marketplace for Rs 20,000, but paid 2.20 lakh.
In both cases, the sellers asked them to pay the excess amount towards various charges, which they claimed were refundable, but little did Kumar and Akanksha know they were being cheated by cyber fraudsters posing as sellers.
Of late, there has been a sharp increase in the number of cyber frauds executed through OLX in Telangana, and particularly in the areas falling under Hyderabad, Cyberabad, and Rachakonda police commissionerates. Many people are easily lured by the huge discounts fraudsters offer, and end up paying much more than the agreed amount, cybercrime officials say.
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They add that a majority of the frauds are executed while selling cars, bikes and mobile phones. Most of these cases reported have to do with fraudsters posing as army officials, officials reveal, adding that the accused persons get pictures of vehicles from social media.
Once someone shows interest in buying the vehicle, the fraudster shifts the conversation to WhatsApp, shares his details with the buyer, and lures him/her to pay the amount. Many such fraudsters claim they are in Hyderabad. “You should be doubly careful if the bank accounts mentioned are of branches in Hyderabad or Telangana,” warns ACP Cybercrime Rachakonda S Harinath.