The cases of cyber fraud have increased significantly with the shopkeepers present on Facebook. Cyber thugs are cheating the shopkeepers in the name of army.
Facebook is no longer just a social media app, a lot of people are shining their work here too. You can sell your products on Facebook and customers can also buy by contacting you directly. But you will be surprised to know that by taking illegitimate advantage of this facility given by Facebook, fraud is being done on a large scale. To know better about this, you must understand the incident with Fatehabad (Haryana resident) Nirmal. No one can even think of such fraud.
Nirmal has a showroom of sanitary ware (pipes and water tanks). Along with offline work, Nirmal has also listed his products on Facebook Marketplace to increase business. People often contact them by taking information from Facebook and buy and take away the goods. Many times Nirmal also do home delivery on the demand of the people.
Fraud in the name of army
One day Nirmal got a call. The caller gave his name as Rajesh and said that Army is speaking from Kent in Hisar. He asked Nirmal that do you still have the water tanks that you have shown on Facebook? Shopkeeper Nirmal replied yes and said, “There are tanks, but we deliver in our city itself, not outside the city, because it costs a lot and the customer does not want to pay that cost.” (Please tell that the distance of Hisar from Fatehabad (where the shop is) is about 50 kilometers.)
The atmosphere was created such that there is trust
On this Rajesh said that you do not worry about him, whatever your expenses will be given. Still, he will confirm this expenditure with his senior officer and tell. At present there is a requirement of 10 water tanks with a capacity of 2000 liters in Army Cantt.
Nirmal told Rajesh that it is okay, you confirm and tell. Rajesh called again after about an hour and said that the senior officer has also confirmed. Any additional expenses incurred will be paid for.
Nirmal asked why don’t you guys buy the tank from Hisar itself. He is near you. On this Rajesh said that he has searched everywhere in Hisar, but the tanks are very expensive. If your prices are reasonable, that’s why we want to buy from you.
Rajesh feared that the shopkeeper might have got suspicious. Rajesh shared many pictures on WhatsApp, which were of Hisar Army Kent. (Probably those pictures were picked up and shared from the Internet).
Will pay first, then take the tank
Rajesh asked the shopkeeper to assure Nirmal that first you will get 50% payment in advance from the army and after that you get the tank delivered. Nirmal thought it was fine. If you get the first payment then there will be no problem.
Very strange payment process
Rajesh, who describes himself from the army, said, “We will give you 10 coupons of 20 thousand rupees. These will be in your name and you have to scan them with Google Pay. A coupon is of Rs. 2 thousand. As you keep scanning coupons, you will get new coupons.
Nirmal found this a bit strange. He sent the first coupon of Rs 5 and asked to scan it. Also said that you will get back double of the amount you scan the coupon. Army Kent Hisar was written above the coupon and Nirmal’s name below. When Nirmal scanned the coupon and entered the UPI pin, Rs 5 was withdrawn from his account. Within a short time of withdrawal of money, Rs 10 was paid in Nirmal’s account. Rajesh told that this coupon was for testing. If you have got 10 rupees then confirm it. Nirmal confirmed.
Now the second coupon of 2 thousand rupees was sent. Nirmal scanned that coupon too, but this time he got nothing back. After waiting for some time, thug Rajesh got a call and he said that a mistake has been made in making this coupon. Now you will get full money only after scanning 10 coupons. Meaning you scan 10 coupons of 2-2 thousand. 20 thousand rupees will be withdrawn from your account, then you will get 40 thousand rupees back together.
Nirmal now understood that fraud was happening with him. Nirmal said that he will not scan any more coupons as he is finding this fraud. Although Rajesh tried to convince Nirmal for a long time on this, but Nirmal hung up the phone.
If Nirmal had scanned the rest of the coupons in his desire to get Rs 2 thousand, he would have suffered a loss of 20 thousand.
