Fraudsters put advertisements for electronic goods, vehicles, clothing, etc. on social media or portals for sale. Once someone contacts them for the same, they are asked to make advance payment for the goods.

Fraudsters put advertisements for electronic goods, vehicles, clothing, etc. on social media or portals for sale. Once someone contacts them for the same, they are asked to make advance payment for the goods. Once the fraudsters receive money, they don’t deliver the goods at all or deliver wrong/ sub-standard goods. Some websites store credit/ debit card information keyed-in by the customers and misuse it online.

In a variant identified as OLX fraud, the fraudster keeps goods at a very cheap price on the web portal. Once people start spending money on the same, it gets removed from the listing and the fraudsters pocket the money. The goods are not sent, or the ones delivered are found to be defective. The fraudsters also approach officials of payment gateway to get the amount deposited on such sites fraudulently.