Do you shop from ecommerce sites like Nykaa regularly? Then beware! You might be a potential target of cyber fraudsters.
How does the Nykaa scam work?
In this case, the fraud caller poses as a Nykaa customer care executive. He/she shares your details – your name, complete address, phone number & even the last item you ordered from Nykaa. This might convince you that he/she is a genuine Nykaa employee. Once this trust is established, it’s when he/she will inform you that you are one of the lucky few who stand to win an assured gift which could be an LED TV, Apple iPhone, Dell laptop, etc. All you have to do is to shop for Rs. 5000 by 5 pm on that day and a valuable gift will be all yours. The offer details are shared with you from a WhatsApp business account posing as Nykaa’s authorised WhatsApp account. Trust is established, greed is invigorated, and urgency is also imposed.
If you agree to participate in the limited period offer, you will be asked to add items to your cart & then share screenshots with them over WhatsApp chat. Post that you will be informed that since this is a sales promotion scheme, payment is not to be made via Nykaa website, instead the bank account details will be shared for transferring money. You make the transfer, the money is gone and you are sent a dummy order ID. However, the game does not end here.
Lengths of the cyber crime
You will receive a call from some other person posing as an executive from Nykaa’s GST Department requesting you to transfer another Rs. 11-12k towards GST for your order. They claim that it is required only for legal formalities as they need to show that GST payment was done by the customer and it is promised that the amount shall be refunded immediately. Obviously, there will be no refund and they will ask for more money till the time you refuse.
A simple Google search for “Nykaa fraud calls” will reveal that this entire fraud has been going on for over the last one and a half years. So many customers of Nykaa have lost their hard-earned money. Meanwhile the company and their IT Department have done nothing for this issue. They are obviously aware of this data leak and the fraud as there is a thread on their website regarding this.
It is obvious that there is some data leakage going on and it seems it is possible that it’s not limited to just Nykaa. Comments left by users on Truecaller indicate that cyber criminals might have access to order details of other companies like Mama Earth, Ajio and even Flipkart.
What if you fall prey to such a scam call?
Report the matter as soon as possible to cyber crime helpline number – 1930. You will receive an acknowledgement number as SMS and you will need to submit additional details within reasonable time on www.cybercrime.gov.in for police to investigate further. Be sure to attach all call logs, screenshots, bank statements, so it becomes easy for the police to investigate.
