What if you received a WhatsApp message stating you'd won Rs 25 lakh in Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC)? Don't think you've hit the jackpot when you may just be a victim of a scam. On Monday, Delhi Police's Cyber Crime Cell made a similar announcement through Twitter and asked people to exercise caution due to this. KBC is broadcast every year, and fraudsters become active then too. They select random numbers and tell the victim that they have been selected in the KBC lucky draw and they have won cash prizes worth between 2 and 25 lakh. There is also a processing fee that must be paid to claim the amount. With the 12th season of the popular quiz show hosted by Amitabh Bachchan starting on September 28, online fraudsters are attempting to rob people of their money by claiming to win the show lottery.
Bhayandar woman loses Rs. 1.45 lakhs to fake KBC call
Fraudsters exploited an 18-year-old girl and her mother, who lost Rs. 1.45 lakh after falling prey to the online KBC scam. According to the woman's complaint, her daughter had received a voice call on a popular social media platform known as WhatsApp from an unknown person claiming to be from KBC.
During the call, she was asked a few simple questions. When she answered the quiz correctly, the caller informed her that she had been chosen to win Rs.25 lakh from the KBC lottery. In an apparent effort to gain her trust, the fraudsters requested that she upload scanned copies of her parents' bank passbook. Following this, she received a copy of a cheque for Rs. 25 lakhs. To claim the prize, she was required to pay a processing fee and GST of Rs. 25,000. To claim the prize, the girl deposited Rs. 25,000 as GST and processing fees. After a few minutes, the caller again called and told her she was also the lucky winner of a car, along with the prize money of Rs.25 lakh. In this case, she had to transfer a total of Rs. 2.40 lakh towards RTO and registration fees. Upon their request, they transferred another Rs.1.20 lakh into the specified accounts. Nevertheless, the demands continued. When the victims realized they had been duped, they filed a complaint at the Navghar police station in Bhayandar.
The following precautions must be taken:
1. It is very likely that messages claiming you have won a lottery or a prize are scams.
2. If you examine such messages closely, you'll find poor authorship, grammatical errors, and other glaring indicators of the message not being genuine.
3. Fraudsters take advantage of your greed. Because you are blinded by your greed, you neglect basic precautions such as discussing the matter with family members or verifying the information through alternative means.
4. A genuine lottery or prize will deduct tax and other charges from the prize money and the winner will receive the amount that's been deducted. You should therefore question why you are required to pay these fees in advance to receive so-called lottery money. Due to the fact that it is a scam and there is no money involved.
5. When a caller insists on keeping secrecy, it indicates something fishy is going on.
6. It is recommended that digital escrow platforms be used for payment. When making an online payment with Escrow, you do not share your financial information with anyone. There is a platform for escrow called Vouch.
How does digital escrow work?
With digital escrow, a third-party account holds the buyer's money until the seller complies with the contract terms. An escrow company supervises all parties involved in the transaction.
What is the role of Digital Escrow in preventing online fraud in India?
Vouch Digital Escrow ensures the smooth transfer of products and payments to buyers by securing transactions between buyers and sellers. Customer orders will be delivered on time and customers will be fairly compensated quickly. Fraudsters will usually ask for QR codes or OTP codes or ask you to click on phishing links, but you can easily avoid them by declining and requesting the transaction to be completed with Vouch.
Vouch Digital Escrow offers non-interest-bearing escrow accounts for companies in India, and you will be kept in the loop throughout the process. During the whole process of payment, shipping, and deliveries, Vouch's professional team continuously watches over every aspect, so that cheating and fraud are impossible. Vouch's professionals will answer all of your questions throughout the transaction. With Vouch, business transactions are transparent, streamlined, and convenient.
This is Fraud Story #98. Check back here for more fraud stories and scams that you can protect yourself from.
Safety is not just about protecting your credit, debit card number, and UPI accounts. It's about having control of your money till you've received the product or service you bought online!
Note: This is a good-faith initiative to educate the world about avoiding frauds like these and how to act when you're becoming a victim of such a situation.
Do you have a fraud you would like to report? Please write to us at letstalk@iamvouched.com
