The amount of cyber scams reported in India during the period of lockdown has significantly increased. Due to the restrictions imposed during the pandemic period, it is quite convenient for the general public to pay their bills through online mode.
However, due to lack of knowledge about the digital platform many users tend to fall for various online frauds.
It has been frequently observed that fake online payment websites have become the best way to trap a user, and dupe him of his money. Recently, a paytm scam was reported by the Indian Express where users were duped of their money through a cashback offer.
It is quite obvious that Paytm website is not a genuine website and is rather a fraudulent website. The scam is initiated through a link, which appears in the browser notification. After the user clicks on the link, he/ she is directed to the website named paytm-cashoffer.com. The notification reads “Congratulations! You have won Paytm Scratch Card”. After users scratch the card on the website, they are congratulated for winning an amount between Rs 2,000 to Rs 2500.
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Next, the user is asked to send the reward to your Paytm account. However, as the user opens his/ her paytm account, the amount which is supposed to be won is deducted. This roughly means, instead of receiving a cashback, your account is debited by the certain amount (the amount which is supposed to be received as cashback).
As we tried to authenticate the scam by visiting the above mentioned fraud website, we were redirected to fake Paytm cashback page. The winning amount of the cashback coupon changed every time when we reopened the site. However, the site can be accessed only on mobile platforms and not on a computer. This points out that the fraudsters intend to target people using mobile/ smartphone platforms.
If a user wants to check the authenticity of a website he/ she should check the URL of the website, which is mentioned at the top of the webpage. On an important note, the users should note that genuine payment websites/ platforms do not offer any unreasonable cashback. People are advised not to click on any cashback offers which they find over the internet and rather crosscheck it.