Hello FM’s
I wanted to share an experience while trying to sell my old furniture via OLX. I thought of warning the fellow members to avoid such scams.
I was trying to sell my old furniture while moving to the new flat and right after posting the ad I got a call from a person showing interest in buying the same. He asked the price and straight away agreed with the quoted price without any negotiation. He promptly said he will sent a person next day to pick up the furniture and also he will be sending an advance payment to seal the deal. Then the person asked whether i have google pay to transfer the money. Since I don’t use google pay finally he agreed to pay 5K advance via BHIM.
After sharing the UPI Id with the so called ‘buyer’ I was waiting for money and I didn’t receive it for the next 10 - 15 minutes despite his agreement to send it right away. ( He was expecting me to call him back for the same ). Since I was busy with relocation I didn’t care much. After 15 minutes he called me multiple times and I couldn’t pick it up as I was packing my rest of the stuff to move out. Then finally I picked his call and he wanted to check whether I received the money or not. I told him I haven’t received anything, then he started complaining about the online transfer process and reliability and he promptly said he will check it and get back.
Again he called me back in a minute asking the confirmation on transfer and said there is something wrong in the online transfer and insisted me to be on call with him. Then he told me to open the BHIM app on my phone and said he will walk me through on how to receive money. The same time i received request on BHIM to send 5K ( Note this - it’s a request to send money to another account not a notification for the 5K I’m suppose to get)
the person was pushing me to open the BHIM app and enter PIN and was claiming that’s how we need to do in order to receive money from someone. Since I was suspicious about this person from the very first moment when he agreed to buy without any negotiation I told him I’m going to report it as I received his UPI ID and thus I can easily trace his identity. He disconnected the call and called him back multiple times but his phone was switched off.
Why did I suspect something fishy?
Typical buyer will ask about the product first - at least one of it - how old, condition, reason for selling etc
No Negotiation - Doesn‘t matter how good the product is - people will definitely negotiate unless your intention is something else.
at least buyer will ask whether it’s negotiable or not.
My furniture doesn’t have any antique value nor it’s a rare item - so no negotiation is suspicious
Potential Targets and why ?
Mostly people who post furniture Items upto 25K in OLX kind of portals
Reason 1 : Only few bother to file a complaint for such amount and even if you do so police will not be much interested in it considering the value lost.
Reason 2 : Furniture doesn’t have any unique specification ( It’s nothing but wood and fabric ) and it’s common requirement for any household. If at all any questions from the seller, buyer can easily convince the seller.
Modus Operandi :
Usually a person will call you speaking in Hindi expressing his interest in buying the stuff you have posted in OLX kind of portals. He will introduce himself in random names but the location will always be the same - Near Airport ( Easy and convincing location - most of the states has at least one airport ) he will agree to buy your stuff and to send an amount in advance to seal the deal. Then will ask you to share the payment ID ( mostly google pay ) google pay transfer limit is much higher than other payment apps. The person might tell you to call back after transferring the amount but will never happen. While sharing your payment ID for transfer on what’s app or by message they will not reply anything other than just ‘OK’. The person will call you again complaining about transfer issues and will insist you to be on call with him ( this is Just to divert your attention). Then will ask you to open payment app and the same time will send a request to your payment ID to transfer amount to his account instead of sending you the advance payment for purchase. If you’re desperate to sell /careless/ newbie to payment apps or not sure how it works you will end up in loosing money. It will be too late to realise it as the payment apps will not prompt for confirmation before sending the money.
How to identify frauds :
Always ask the buyer to come and verify the stuff you’re selling and then transfer the amount, even for a token amount.
A genuine buyer will never transfer money just like that - use your common sense.
If you’re desperate/ careless it will override your common sense - be alert always it won’t hurt
Be alert and expect the worst if you feel something other than usual - unfortunately our society is not ’trust’ based and it will never be.
Tips to avoid being a victim of fraud:
Disable the primary UPI ID - which is your mobile number by default. Create a new UPI ID
Reason : Visibility is high for mobile number and anyone can use mobile number easily to request money on payment apps.
Its good to have another account apart from the salary account.
Make your lowest balance account as a default account for payment apps. Salary account will be the best bet as it can be zero balance.
Even if you accidentally enter PIN for a money request due to insufficient balance it will automatically fail.
Last but not least, use your common sense !
I wanted to share an experience while trying to sell my old furniture via OLX. I thought of warning the fellow members to avoid such scams.
I was trying to sell my old furniture while moving to the new flat and right after posting the ad I got a call from a person showing interest in buying the same. He asked the price and straight away agreed with the quoted price without any negotiation. He promptly said he will sent a person next day to pick up the furniture and also he will be sending an advance payment to seal the deal. Then the person asked whether i have google pay to transfer the money. Since I don’t use google pay finally he agreed to pay 5K advance via BHIM.
After sharing the UPI Id with the so called ‘buyer’ I was waiting for money and I didn’t receive it for the next 10 - 15 minutes despite his agreement to send it right away. ( He was expecting me to call him back for the same ). Since I was busy with relocation I didn’t care much. After 15 minutes he called me multiple times and I couldn’t pick it up as I was packing my rest of the stuff to move out. Then finally I picked his call and he wanted to check whether I received the money or not. I told him I haven’t received anything, then he started complaining about the online transfer process and reliability and he promptly said he will check it and get back.
Again he called me back in a minute asking the confirmation on transfer and said there is something wrong in the online transfer and insisted me to be on call with him. Then he told me to open the BHIM app on my phone and said he will walk me through on how to receive money. The same time i received request on BHIM to send 5K ( Note this - it’s a request to send money to another account not a notification for the 5K I’m suppose to get)
the person was pushing me to open the BHIM app and enter PIN and was claiming that’s how we need to do in order to receive money from someone. Since I was suspicious about this person from the very first moment when he agreed to buy without any negotiation I told him I’m going to report it as I received his UPI ID and thus I can easily trace his identity. He disconnected the call and called him back multiple times but his phone was switched off.
Why did I suspect something fishy?
Typical buyer will ask about the product first - at least one of it - how old, condition, reason for selling etc
No Negotiation - Doesn‘t matter how good the product is - people will definitely negotiate unless your intention is something else.
at least buyer will ask whether it’s negotiable or not.
My furniture doesn’t have any antique value nor it’s a rare item - so no negotiation is suspicious
Potential Targets and why ?
Mostly people who post furniture Items upto 25K in OLX kind of portals
Reason 1 : Only few bother to file a complaint for such amount and even if you do so police will not be much interested in it considering the value lost.
Reason 2 : Furniture doesn’t have any unique specification ( It’s nothing but wood and fabric ) and it’s common requirement for any household. If at all any questions from the seller, buyer can easily convince the seller.
Modus Operandi :
Usually a person will call you speaking in Hindi expressing his interest in buying the stuff you have posted in OLX kind of portals. He will introduce himself in random names but the location will always be the same - Near Airport ( Easy and convincing location - most of the states has at least one airport ) he will agree to buy your stuff and to send an amount in advance to seal the deal. Then will ask you to share the payment ID ( mostly google pay ) google pay transfer limit is much higher than other payment apps. The person might tell you to call back after transferring the amount but will never happen. While sharing your payment ID for transfer on what’s app or by message they will not reply anything other than just ‘OK’. The person will call you again complaining about transfer issues and will insist you to be on call with him ( this is Just to divert your attention). Then will ask you to open payment app and the same time will send a request to your payment ID to transfer amount to his account instead of sending you the advance payment for purchase. If you’re desperate to sell /careless/ newbie to payment apps or not sure how it works you will end up in loosing money. It will be too late to realise it as the payment apps will not prompt for confirmation before sending the money.
How to identify frauds :
Always ask the buyer to come and verify the stuff you’re selling and then transfer the amount, even for a token amount.
A genuine buyer will never transfer money just like that - use your common sense.
If you’re desperate/ careless it will override your common sense - be alert always it won’t hurt
Be alert and expect the worst if you feel something other than usual - unfortunately our society is not ’trust’ based and it will never be.
Tips to avoid being a victim of fraud:
Disable the primary UPI ID - which is your mobile number by default. Create a new UPI ID
Reason : Visibility is high for mobile number and anyone can use mobile number easily to request money on payment apps.
Its good to have another account apart from the salary account.
Make your lowest balance account as a default account for payment apps. Salary account will be the best bet as it can be zero balance.
Even if you accidentally enter PIN for a money request due to insufficient balance it will automatically fail.
Last but not least, use your common sense !
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