The great Indian Phishing!

Something interesting happened today! I got an inquiry for my house that I had put up for rent on 99 Acres. He identified himself as “AVDHESH KUMAR” from the Indian Army army in Delhi and moving to Hyderabad within a week with his family.

Well this was something which was alarmingly wrong on all grounds. When I told him the army usually allocates quarters and why he is looking out, he said they have stopped it post-COVID.

He sent me his identification documents to prove his identity.

He also said he would be getting part of the rent reimbursed by the office. Someone from his office “AMIT KUMAR” then called us up to transfer a part of the security deposit to confirm the deal.

He said we need to open Google Pay, and input the 10 digit number they give us, and click “pay”! SCAM ALERT!

I caught their scam in time and reported the same on the cyber crime portal, but many people fall for it. It’s reprehensible they use the name of the Indian Army to trick gullible people.

He goes by the name of Avdhesh Kumar and calls from 7896384593, 7300537576, 8824586681. Please do your bit, share this post and also mark this number as “scammer” so others are alerted.

I’ve attached the documents he sent us so that others can be on the lookout if they get contacted by him.

This is the most common UPI scams the ‘Request Money’ scam. This happens when a user receives a request to pay money instead of getting a payment, and isn’t paying enough attention to the transaction. OLX ,Quikr, Magic bricks etcare well-known for hunting grounds for frauds using this scam. On apps like Google Pay, PhonePe, BHIM, etc., there is an option to request money from another person, which is something fraudsters take advantage of. Say you’re expecting a payment from a person for a product you want to sell, but instead of paying you the amount, the person sends a payment request for that amount. You receive the request and, unassumingly, enter your UPI M-PIN. As soon as you enter the PIN, you have validated the transaction and the money gets transferred from your bank account to the fraudster’s account.

TIP FOR THE DAY- If someone requests personal financial details or other sensitive info on Google Pay, it’s a scam. Google customer service or tech support will never ask for: Your passwords, passcodes, or password reset link. PINs (personal identification numbers)