Many times when a customer of any product or service has any issues with it, they use social media channels to communicate with the brand about this grievance regarding the product or service. Some of the most common social media channels for lodging this type of grievance are X (formerly Twitter), LinkedIn, etc. Although social media is a quick and easy way to communicate with the brand about any grievance, you must remember that every post or tweet you send is in the public domain, which anybody can see. Taking advantage of your situation, fraudsters impersonating the brand can target you and dupe you. ET Wealth Online has identified two people who have fallen victim to such type of impersonation scams and lost lakhs of rupees.
Here’s how the scam happened
The steps of the impersonation scam are summarised below:
Step 1: The bait
One of the affected users (Vikash Kumar Jha) who ordered multiple items from an e-commerce website told us that when he opened the delivered product, some items were missing from it. So he tweeted about it and tagged the e-commerce website’s official handle on social media platform X.
After this tweet, he immediately received a reply from a social media handle which looked like the e-commerce website’s official handle at first glance. This social media handle asked him to send the details of his complaint to a mobile number. So Vikash sent the details with photos to the given number. This is when the bait placed by the fraudster worked. In reality neither was the social media handle genuine nor was the given phone number that of the actual e-commerce website.
Step 2: The hook
After the details were shared, the fraudster told Vikash his name, address, and the product’s name and description in such a manner that it all seemed real. The fraudster told Vikas that a WhatsApp video call was required to verify the missing items claim. Vikash did not question this and obliged with the request. He was convinced about the fraudster’s impersonated identity. Fraudsters got the details about Vikash from the information that he had shared on X.
Step 3: The final act
Once Vikash initiated the Whatsapp video call and showed the package which had missing items, the fraudster told him that he was eligible for a refund. However, in order to get this refund, he needed to go to the e-commerce website and provide his bank details. The fraudster also sent him a direct web link on his WhatsApp which Vikash could click and go directly to the refund page of the e-commerce website. When he clicked on the ‘web link’, it took him to a website that looked like a replica of the actual website of the e-commerce brand. Up until this point, Vikas did not suspect anything. He went ahead and shared his bank account details. However, the ‘submit’ button was not clickable. So Vikash asked for help from that number on WhatsApp. The fraudster then instructed Vikas to share his screen over a WhatsApp video call. After this, Vikash was instructed to go back to the webpage and share his debit or credit card details instead of the bank account. When Vikash shared the card details, the fraudster saw all of this due to screen sharing over video calls. As per Vikash, this was the time when the fraudster probably used his card details to initiate a transaction, but he had no idea. He realised later that he was being scammed.
After this Vikash received an OTP, which the fraudster read quickly since Vikash was sharing his screen over a video call. And this is when the fraud happened.
“Two unauthorised transactions amounting to Rs 52,556.5 were conducted using my card, causing significant financial loss and distress,” Vikash told ET Wealth Online.
“Item was missing so I complained on X about this. Before the Flipkart executive reached out, fake customer service responded to me on X and then this scam happened to me. I have also complained about this at the Delhi Police Cyber Crime,” Vikash told us.
“I have been frauded by someone through a WhatsApp call from 7894692301 at 11.26 PM on September 3, 2024. However I’ve not shared the OTP to anyone but they have deducted my amount Rs 25737.50 and Rs 26819 from Axis Bank credit card,” Vikash told us.
Source: Vikash Kumar Jha
Another user who also fell victim to this same type of impersonation scam told us that she bought a mobile phone worth Rs 70,000 from a reputed e-commerce website. She too experienced a similar narrative as Vikas and then got scammed. She told us that she filed a police FIR in this regard.