NEW DELHI, Feb 15
CEO and co-founder of discount brokerage, Zerodha, Nithin Kamath, on Thursday warned investors against phishing websites that look like the websites of Indian brokers.
“After the Chinese loan apps scam, the latest scam from actors in China and other Asian countries is phishing websites. Fraudsters are creating hundreds of websites and trading apps that look similar to the websites of Indian brokers,” he tweeted.
He cautioned that unwitting users who click on the app download links will be prompted to download the fake app. Kamath said the aim of these phishing websites is to get people to transfer money by taking advantage of their familiarity with these apps.
This is just another one of the hundreds of international scams that have exploded in the last few years, he wrote.
In an earlier tweet, Kamath had written extensively about “pig butchering scams” that run into tens of thousands of crores.
It is scary how many people fall for fake job offer scams, scammy high-return investment schemes and crypto investments, Kamath noted.
“As the name implies, a pig butchering scam involves fattening the victim before butchering. Scammers gain the trust of users by using fake profiles. They use the pretense of love and friendship to gain the trust of users and then induce them to send money for jobs and high-return investments and steal the money. These scams are global, and their scope is staggering.”
He pointed out that what makes these scams even more cruel is that the person scamming could also be a victim of another type of scam. “Many fall into the trap of international job offers from scammy companies. Once abroad, they are held captive and forced to scam Indians by building trust using social media platforms, typically using fake profiles of the opposite sex.”
“It is essential to talk about this frequently with as many people as possible, given the scale of the problem,” he wrote as he shared a few tips for people to protect themselves from such scams.
- Never reply to unknown messages on WhatsApp, social media platforms, and dating apps.
- If someone asks you to download some new apps or open links, that’s a red flag.
- These scams rely on exploiting your emotions, like hopes, fears, dreams, and greed. Never react in a hurry.
- Don’t panic. Most people fall for these scams because they react in a hurry.
- When in doubt, go to the nearest police station or talk to a lawyer.
- If someone promises something like a job or high returns or asks you for money, it’s a red flag.
- Never ever share personally identifiable information like your Aadhaar, Passport or your financial information like bank details, investment details etc.
- If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
