Story:
Scratch & Win QR Code Fraud in the Name of Snapdeal, Amazon, Flipkart, Shop Clues..
Fraudsters are sending lottery winner letters in the name of e-commerce giants Snapdeal, Amazon, Flipkart, ShopClues and many other sites.
Stay alert. Never scan the QR codes; never send money to unknown money request.
Facts Analysis:
Beware of Scratch & Win Fraud using QR Code taking place in the name of e-Commerce giants like Snapdeal, Amazon, Flipkart and Shop Clues. Fraudsters are sending fake lottery winning letters asking for registration costs or scanning a QR code. Stay alert!
About the Scratch & Win Fake Letters
As explained in the video, K. Raghu Ram Kumar received a letter through speed post saying he won a lottery ticket in online shopping portal ‘Snapdeal Open’ offer and is a winner of lacs of money. The enclosed letter has his name, detailing about the lottery and prize money along with phone number to call or SMS their helpline. The letter comes with content suggesting Snapdeal has selected few lucky customers for winning the scratch and win coupon with lots of gifts. To convince people, the fraudsters use logos of well-known brands like Amazon, Snapdeal and Flipkart in the letters.
To redeem the gifts, they ask to contact on the helpline numbers, WhatsApp or email ID – operated by circle of scammers. Many other people have also received such lucky draw letters claiming they have won 1 lac rupees and lucky scratch coupon with expensive gifts like cars. They tell the recipient to contact the company on the given phone, email or WhatsApp number and share the coupon code. Once you contact, they ask for registration charges or advance fee/tax for getting your prize money or gift and go absconding thereafter.
QR Code Scam
The fake lottery letters or emails are also misusing the QR code, a payment feature in some UPI apps like Google Pay, PhonePe and Paytm. The QR code takes the victim to a fake payment gateway page where they hand over their card details. This way, the fraudsters can easily wipe off the bank balance of the unsuspecting users. We have come across such complaints online mentioning similar mode of scam earlier also. Again, they ask for registration charges or some advance payment to a bank account. In the second video, a person shares in Hindi about similar scam attempt.
Note, such QR codes embedded in an email or fake lottery win letter are similar to scam links. There’s sudden increase in such scams since late 2019, operating in different ways. This reminds us of related QR code scam using OLX platform. Fraudsters also call Snapdeal or other customers luring they won a huge prize money or gift.
So, like the persons in the videos warn, do not trust the prize money claims coming with these letters blindly. Do not send money to anyone without verifying from the official company sources. Do not scan QR codes coming from unknown people and uncredible sources. Remember, you need to scan QR code only to make payments. While paying using QR code, pay close attention to the details shown to you before confirming the payment.
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