The COVID-19 lockdowns have greatly impacted India’s online food delivery industry. There have been several companies offering instant delivery services, such as Zomato, McDonald's Corporation, and Domino's Pizza Inc. The delivery of online food products enables people to place their orders and have them delivered to their doorstep. By browsing the website or application, you can easily pick from a huge number of available cuisines, and make payment using different methods.
Do not share your bank details!
A person from Uttar Pradesh ordered some food from an online food delivery app and paid Rs.114/- for it. He received a call from the delivery man shortly after ordering the food. He said that the order could not be delivered to his address and that his order was canceled. Since he did not receive his refund, he searched for the customer service number on Google. He called the number he found on google to contact customer service and was immediately greeted by someone who identified themselves as a customer service representative. The fraudster assured him that he would receive his refund and advised him to download the AnyDesk desktop application. After downloading the app, he received a code and was asked to enter his credit card information. Upon sharing his information, Rs14000/- got deducted from his account in three separate transactions.
Here are a few tips for staying safe online.
Please do not deal with people who ask for personal information, money in advance, or bank details.
Fraudsters use fake identification to gain trust. Keep a check on such attempts.
Using digital escrow platforms as a payment method is preferred. When you pay through an Escrow payment system over the internet, you are not sharing your information with strangers. One such platform for escrow is Vouch.
What is digital escrow?
Digital Escrow is the use of a third party account, during a transaction, which holds the money deposited by the buyer until the seller fulfills the terms of the agreement. The transacting parties are supervised by the escrow company.
How does Digital Escrow save you from online frauds in India?
Vouch’s Digital Escrow service is transparent for buyers and sellers to build trust and secure a clean transfer of product and payment. Buyers can feel assured that they will be fairly compensated promptly, and buyers will feel confident that their order will be delivered as expected and on schedule. If you ever come across a fraudster asking for OTP, asking you to scan a QR code, or asking you to click on phishing links, you can simply say no and ask him/her to proceed with the transaction through Vouch.
Vouch Digital Escrow uses a non-interest-bearing escrow account for all transactions in India and keeps you updated and informed at every step of the transaction process till the end. Vouch’s professionals are always available to assist you with all queries that you may have during the entire transaction process. There is no scope for deceit or fraud since the payments, shipping, delivery, and execution are carried out under the honest and watchful eyes of the Vouch’s professionals. With Vouch, any business transaction becomes transparent, uncomplicated, and hassle-free.
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This is Fraud Story #64. Check back here for more fraud stories and scams that you can protect yourself from.
Safety is not just about protecting your credit or debit card number. It's about having control of your money till you've received the product or service you bought online!
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Note: This is a good-faith initiative to educate the world about avoiding frauds like these. Do you have a fraud you would like to report? Please write to us at letstalk@iamvouched.com
