Beware of the The scratch and lose money scam

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Is the scamming industry full of innovation?

Every industry thrives on innovation. This is even more true about the scamming industry.

Not sure if this is a right term to use however going by the numbers of scams going around, the money it generates and the ever increasing number of those involved in scamming others it is nothing short of an industry.

It is an industry where people use technology and trickery to scam people.

Scammers are getting more and more innovative by the day finding new ways of duping the gullible public of their money.

Here is how a 19 year old teen from a small town managed to scam people from around the country that too remotely via the internet.

Perhaps the mundane life pushed him to try out a get rich quick scheme that was actually a scam.

The story revolves around a school pass out who joins a knitting company after the death of his father.

As a result he managed to accumulate a lot of money by tricking a large number of people.

How the scam was set up

The boy named Aman got a site that represented a multinational company that had a large product base from soaps, tea, steel , power etc.

To make the site look authentic he got images of company top executives published onto the site.

The purpose of the site was to run a promotion that offered the users a chance to win Rs 1999 ~ $24 via free scratch coupons. This false offer was run to mark the 155th anniversary of the company.

Since it was a free offer it was easy to paddle and gained traction quickly.
The unsuspecting users did not realize the web of deceit that surrounded them.

Upon scratching the card they would see a winning amount of Rs1999 ~ $24 on their screen.

They would be prompted to provide their bank account details.

Once they submitted their details and clicked on the final submission the money was promptly taken out from their accounts.

In this manner instead of winning they got lured into losing the money.

Why did users not lodge an official complaint?

Since it was a small amount, it escaped the attention of many. For some others it was too small an amount to be reported due to the cumbersome and lengthy reporting procedure.

How did the scammer get the money?

When a substantial amount got aggregated into one account the accused withdrew it via the ATM.

How he started to be a scammer

During investigation he revealed that he had come across a telegram link on his facebook page.
This led him to a group that taught him how to get mobile phone Sim cards, bank accounts as well as debit and credit cards using false documents.
Though Aman was living in the city of Ludhiana in Punjab, India he used the information to get the SIM cards from another state.

How was the scam set up?

The accused contracted a site developer who made the counterfeit site for him for a fee.
As part of his training to set up a scam he received a banking kit that included a mobile phone sim card, debit and credit cards as well as a bank account.

His modus operandi was to use this for a week and then discard these and start afresh with a new set.

The scammer ran out of luck

The scammer operated his scheme for four months before he ran out of luck.
When a FIR police complaint was lodged at the cyber police station the scammer got apprehended.

As per the police department they were conducting raids at various locations in search of his accomplices as they believe such scams are elaborate and may involve many individuals.

The police are on the lookout for those who provided the SIM card and the individual who created the counterfeit website.

Final thoughts

Thanks to the internet the scammers have a global reach so we must be very careful at all times.

Public should remain vigilant and aware of such scams. They should not be tempted to click on suspicious links or give out bank details and OTP’s to individuals or submit them on a site.

For the scammers it is important to know that sooner or later their luck would run out and the law would get to them.

Posted Using InLeo Alpha