Ranga Reddy: OLX frauds spike at an alarming pace

Ranga Reddy: With a number of OLX fraud complaints reaching the Cybercrime police stations of the three Commissionerates every day, the Cybercrime police on Sunday warned people about fraudsters duping customers on OLX website.

They said that the cyber fraudsters were adopting modern techniques to cheat the innocent and such platforms are the easiest ways of possible reaching many. The police warned that the cyber frauds post fake advertisements on the website about sale of different types of articles/products such as four wheelers, two wheelers, mobile phones, laptops etc., without having any product in their possession.

When a buyer intends to purchase any product through this particular website, they browse for the products and contact the sellers. After that they exchange numbers and discuss about price, etc. Building trust in the buyer by sending fake identity cards in military uniform, registration documents or fake receipt of the product etc., they ask for payment of amount through e-wallet or internet banking. Once the amount is received by the fraudster, they stop responding to the calls of the buyer.

As such platforms are generally believed to be authentic the cyber fraudsters find it easy to cheat people and loot them.

In spite the authorities being aware of the frauds through OLX, the management hasn't been considerably seen taking any step to safeguard its customers and as the number of cases registered in the three Commissionerates of Hyderabad are increasing alarmingly, a request has been made with the authorities of Department of Telecommunications for initiating suitable action against the OLX platform and the same is under consideration.

A deadline was given to OLX authorities to implement certain guidelines issued by DOT, to prevent frauds.