New Delhi: The global scale of cybercrime has increased. An innocent person falls victim to the scam every day. People were increasingly interested in online browsing and shopping during the Corona era, but some people used this to their advantage by turning Amazon Mall, Amazon Merchant Center and other brands into a hub for cybercrime. According to data, the number of cybercrime incidents nationwide increased by 5% from 2020 to last year. Only one-third of cases, as per National Crime Records Bureau data, had a charge sheet filed. Amazon Mall-related crimes have grown significantly over time.
ComplaintRoom receives similar cases on a daily basis. As per the reports, a victim had paid approx. 30 lakh rupees in this game of fraud and had received nothing as the scammers never returned this money.
How Amazon Mall Cyber-Crime takes place?
Victims receive links for online jobs and earning on their mobile through Whatsapp or SMS. The fraudsters ask the victims to recharge with a small amount like rupees 100 or 200 and they ask the victim to withdraw the double amount immediately. This way, the fraudsters build trust with the victim. And also, the victim believes that this is an easy and trustworthy process to earn money.
Second time, they ask for a big amount like rupees 5000 or 10000. After the victim recharges with the mentioned amount, they find out that their account has more than the double amount to withdraw but it is not withdrawable. Now, the fraudsters will ask to recharge with a huge amount i.e., 30,000 or 50,000 to withdraw the whole amount. After receiving the desired amount, the fraudsters demand more and freeze the account if not paid by the victim, and never allow the victim to withdraw his money.
ComplaintRoom receives similar cases on a daily basis. As per the reports, a victim had paid approx. 30 lakh rupees in this game of fraud and had received nothing as the scammers never returned this money.
It is also noted that the fraudsters are also registered with TRAI for sending transactional SMS to victims. They send SMSs to DND registered numbers using a transactional header like JX-GACOBL and so on.
This Amazon Mall/ Amazon Merchant cyber-crime is not only limited to common people. Let us tell you that earlier, Mrs. Parineet Kaur, MP wife of former Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, was also cheated of Rs 23 lakh, when the police caught the accused, about 800 SIM cards, information of 200 bank accounts and 18 lakhs were recovered.
Who is perpetrating crime?
Students and unemployed individuals play this game of cyber crime at the Amazon Mall to make money. Students and those engaged in cyber crime have historically created fictitious online domain names and websites. These individuals used to create false job postings on social media sites in an effort to draw in the unemployed. In order to make the websites appear authentic, fraudsters also creates bogus websites using the names of popular brands like Amazon Mall, Flipkart Mall, Snapdeal Mall, EM Mall, Genting Mall App and Ebay.
ComplaintRoom has identified a few fake websites as below-
- 6011AmazonHome.com
- 03AmazonHome.com
- Ebay88.com
- Amazon962.com
- Amaon51.com
- ISS3.com
- W1111.in
- Mall615.com
- F97.in
- Mall3377.com
- G666.com
- MKYT99.in
- YMSJZ88.in
- YDF5678.com
Criminals frequently modify the site’s name to hide their identities from law enforcement. As more victims of cyber crime experience anxiety and depression, the country’s health problems have also increased.
How can you prevent online fraud?
Never believe any SMS or Whatsapp message received from unknown sources offering jobs. Never divulge any sensitive information online. Under no circumstances provide anyone else your OTP. You could become a pauper if you share an OTP. By exposing their OTP and banking information, customers have lost thousands of dollars in numerous instances. Never divulge your credit card or debit cards’ PIN or CVV number to anyone. Never divulge your PAN card and Aadhar information to anyone. Also, scammers only use WhatsApp calls and messages so that nobody can trace them.