A new kind of financial fraud is using the Indian army as decoy

The halo around the Indian armed forces has gotten so strong in India that people believe anything said in the name of the uniform. That has led to a ‘spate’ of frauds by people posing as ‘armymen’, according to a recent advisory from the Navi Mumbai Police.

If you buy and sell products via online classified portals such as OLX and Quikr, you need to be careful while dealing with people claiming to be a part of the Indian Army.

In a recent incident, a resident of Ambernath was duped of ₹52,000 by a fraudster posing as an armyman. The victim, Eman Shafiq Katt, wanted to buy a two-wheeler from the accused, Arbaz Khan. The latter claimed that he was in the army and wanted to sell his scooty as he has been transferred. Once the victim transferred the money into his account, the accused stopped taking her phone calls.

Reports of similar scams have emerged from Pune, Bengaluru, Nagpur, Chandigarh and Ludhiana.

How to protect yourself from ‘armyman’ frauds

Do not trust someone because they show an army ID card

One of the things that is common in these types of frauds is that the person shares an army ID card and asks you to trust them as they are in the army. Do not fall for such tactics and avoid trusting someone based on an ID card that could have been forged very easily.

Avoid making advance payments

If you are buying a product, do not make advance payments and instead, ask the seller to take the payment upon delivery of the product.

Meet at a public place

Whether you are the seller or the buyer, always insist on meeting at a public place to complete the transaction.

Be careful while accepting payments

There have been instances where fraudsters use QR codes to scam people online. When receiving money, do not scan any QR code and be careful while clicking on links. Do not provide any OTP to the sender as they might use this to steal money from you.

See also:

Scammers are now using WhatsApp to steal money - here’s how you can protect yourself

The 11 Most Sophisticated Online Scams Right Now That The Average Person Falls For