Online classifieds like Quikr, OLX and others, a online portal which facilitates a convenient marketplace for buying and selling all kinds of items. If you are advertising your items for sale through online classifieds portal, beware of scammers posing as genuine buyers. Scammers may make up stories such as needing your help to pay an agent or upfront costs like transportation or insurance. They may promise you reimbursement for these costs. Scammers will pose as genuine sellers and post fake ads on classifieds websites and may also approach you through email or on social media portals. The ad may even include pictures and other details often copied from a genuine seller's ad. In order to lure a number of victims in a hurry, the scammer advertises the item at a low price, often much lower than comparable items advertised on the same site.

How Do Classified Scams Work?

Scammers usually start out by setting upfake accountson classified websites. They might also set up fake social media accounts, and quite rarely a fake website. Sometimes, the scammermight even contact the victimon the platform if they notice them posting an ad that they are looking for a certain item or service.

The scammer will usually refuse to engage in direct contact with the victimother than just emailing/messaging them.They will claim to be unavailable to meet face-to-face or chat over the phone. In terms ofpayment methods,the scammer will try to convince the victim to use alternative options, such as Prepaid cards, UPI payments/Net banking, Cryptocurrencies, Money-transfer services.

The scammer might also try to get the victim toshare their personal and financial datawith them usually under the guise of getting them to prove they are a legit buyer/seller. Besides that, in severe situations, the scammer might ask the victim tomeet up face-to-face,but instead of a populated area, it will be a more secluded place. They might also ask the victim to come alone.

If the victim goes ahead with the payment, they will likelylose the moneyas well as the product(s) they were selling. In case they also share their personal/financial info with the scammer, they will be exposed toidentity theft.Basically, the scammer will either use their info in future scams, or sell it off on the deep web.

Classified scamswork differentlydepending on who is being targeted.

1. Distance Buyer's Scam, How the scam works?

The primary motive of the scammer is to dupe the victim of as much cash as he can. So he claims to be living in a distant location that has very high rates for shipping packages. Let's see strategy played by the scammers .The buyer (the scammer) contacts the seller (the victim) and shows an interest in the item for sale and ask for personal contact number. Once he receives the personal number, He states that he is living abroad, and informs the seller to ship the item to his location if the deal goes through. The (buyer) scammer then reassures the seller that the shipping charges would be taken care of. Scammer also informs that he will send over a representative from a private courier service to collect the item and the shipping charges. This representative is also in on the scam who arrives at the seller's location to collect the item and the shipping charges. The representative hands over the fake courier details to the seller and even sends a fake email that contains the same details. The scammer will ensure to be in contact with the seller to gain trust and assures him that he will receive the money for the item as well as the shipping charges. But the seller won't receive the money for the product nor the shipping charges

There are a few variations of this scam, but the overall strategy played by the scammers remains the same. In some cases, the seller may even receive a fake email from a bank. This email request to provide the courier details to approve and release money which have been received from the buyer. This further convinces the seller that this is a legitimate deal.

Case 1: Selling a Samsung S4: Case study of the Distance Buyer's Scam

Punith (name changed) recently experienced this type of  scam but fortunately, he recognized the scam and thus saved himself from being duped. The exact sequence of events that he went through was as follows:

• Punith put an add to sell his Samsung S4 on sale in one of the online classified portal. He then received an enquiry for the device from a person residing in the United States Maria Andriano.
• Maria showed her interest to buy the product and informed the seller that she wanted the phone for her son living in South Africa and asked Punith to ship the phone there directly. While the cost of the phone was listed around the Rs. 6,000, the shipping charges to South Africa were almost double that amount. Maria ensured to pay this amount.
• Maria contacted Punith once more after a couple of days to let him know that she had sent the amount due for the phone and the courier charges to Punith via ***** Bank.
• Punith then received an email from *****Bank within 24 hours, saying that the said amount has been transferred and would be released to Punith once he provides them with the shipping details and courier number.
• Fortunately Punith, was able to identify the scam and save his money.

Be careful and cautions towards such online classified frauds

Think and use common sense, that no bank or courier company would ever send a message or email stating they are holding the money for you and will transfer it once they receive the courier details of the shipped product from you.

2. Scammers trick Sellers by misuse of the request money" feature in UPI

Many scammers use urgency and carefulness of sellers to dupe people visiting online classified Web sites where numerous individuals buy and sell goods to get the best price. UPI has a feature wherein an individual or a merchant can send the user a request to collect money. The user needs to authorize the transaction using a security PIN. This PIN is like an ATM PIN and not a uniquely generated one-time password OTP. This is the first and most common variation of misuse of the request money" feature in UPI at present. The scam starts here. The caller will try to send the money via UPI to book the product. Instead of sending money to you, the caller will request money from you on UPI. The caller might even get an OTP generated for approving the payment from your account instead of his,Let see a similar case studies

Case1: Listed her ad in online classifieds portal , her Alertness , saved her from getting duped

• Meera (name changed) was shifting her house. She had put an advertisement on one of the online classified portal to sell her furniture.
• An interested buyer called and asked if he could transfer half the money to her account right away, to which she agreed. Instead of sending her money, the buyer sent a request to collect Rs 10,000 from her. He immediately called and asked her to approve it.
• she was alert and realised the trick. He was trying to defraud by making her transfer Rs 10,000 to him.

Case 2: :Listed an ad in online classified portal for sale of window AC and ended up losing ₹50,000

• Abhinav, decided to replace his window air conditioner (AC) with a split AC, to sell off he listed his window AC on an online classifieds portal for sale. Immediately Abhinav got a call from a prospective buyer.
• Abhinav tried to ascertain the identity of the person through Truecaller.
• The buyer (scammer) told Abhinav that he was going to transfer him the money right away and his son would come later and collect the AC.
• The buyer (scammer) told Abhinav to enter his UPI (Unified Payment Interface) ID in the UPI app on his phone. immediately, he got a message from his bank, informing him that his bank account was debited.
• He called the buyer (scammer) to figure out what happened and was told that something went wrong and should try doing it again. He tried again, and then again. After the third attempt, he realized he was getting duped.
• What he was entering was not his UPI ID but his UPI PIN,authorizing payment to the fraudster. But by then, Abhinav had lost ₹50,000, over the three transactions.
• The Scammer calling you does not use the term OTP instead says that it is a code that you need to share to complete the transaction (though the message does mention OTP)

Know that there is no need to authorize a transaction if money is being transferred to your account, through any payment system

Know the difference between an ID, PIN and OTP

Never share PINs and OTPs

3. Brand name spoofing or phishing

You get an email that claims to be from online classified portal, or another company and offers buyer protection or an online payment system. These emails will typically request that you send money via this site or provide personal information. legitimate online classified portal will never send out such emails. If you send money via these sites you are likely sending money to the fraudsters.

4. Overpayment

A buyer or seller will send you a cheque and then ask for money to be returned to them. Often the cheque will bounce and you will have lost all money you sent to the other party.

5. Payment for brokerage and importing

A seller claims that there are brokerage fees, import duties, or other such fees required to get an item into India. Do not pay such fees, as you will most often never get the product and will have lost any money you paid.

6. Work from home

Many work from home offers are "pyramid schemes" which require you to recruit other members in order to get paid. For example, an Ad may say that you can make 10000 INR or few thousand rupees an hour by stuffing envelopes. But to make that money, you need to sell the system to others.

How to Protect Yourself from Classified Scams

If You are a Buyer

• If the ad you find features a price that is just too low to be true, and is significantly lower than other similar listings,don't bother with it.
• Alwayscontact the seller to discuss the arrangement with them. Also, ask them to provide recent photos or a video of the item or property you're interested in.
• Google the details of the ad between quotes on a search engine to see if you'll find other people complaining about it being a scam.
• Never make a payment to a seller using alternative methods like prepaid cards, cryptocurrencies, UPI payments or money-transfer services. If you really must make a payment,only use credit cards so that you can dispute the charges later on if necessary.
• Never share your personal and financial details with a seller. When it comes to rental properties, make sure you're not giving out info such as bank account credentials or your Social Security Number.
• Don't meet face-to-face with a seller you barely know especially if it's in a secluded place and you're not allowed to bring anyone with you.
• When dealing with expensive products, you should only pay the seller once you were able to check out the items to make sure they are in good, working order. That also means you shouldn't make an up-front payment without first checking out the items/rental property.
• If you're looking for a rental property,use reliable, well-known online booking agents instead of a classifieds website.
• Check to see if the seller has any good feedback or decent reviews.
• Keep in mind just because an ad pops up on a legitimate classified's website does not mean it is 100% legit.

If You are a Seller

• Don't accept payments by checks or other dubious methods. Credit cards or cash work best in this case.
• If you do receive a check that features overpayment and are asked for a refund, either send it back or stop all contact with the scammer.
• Don't send the items to the buyer until the money has been cleared in your bank account.
• Don't agree to meet the buyer face-to-face unless you know him/her to a certain degree, it's in a populated area, and are able to take someone with you.
• When a buyer wants to inspect more expensive items that are on sale, don't let them do that without having someone supervise the whole process.
• Don't share sensitive or financial info with the buyer just because they want to know you are legit.
• Do not agree to cover transportation or insurance costs on the buyer's behalf if it's their responsibility to do so, and they try to give you emotional-driven reasons as to why they can't do it.

How to report Online classified fraud?

In case you've come across some suspicious behaviour while interacting with buyers sellers

1. If you reply to an Ad and the person who posted the Ad emails you with a suspicious request (eg. asks for money to be sent to them via a payment service), please forward the email to the portal authorities and stop all communications with that person
2. Report the scammer or the adto us on the App or Web.
3. If you are the victim of fraud, file a complaint with relevant Authorities