Do online money transactions? Beware! This man lost Rs 75,000; how you can avoid loss, never do this

Your money is not safe in online world. This especially applies to those innocent people who fall victim to online fraud. In fact, not only innocent people but even their near and dear ones are in danger of losing their money to fraud without even knowing about it. The fraudsters are getting increasingly technologically savvy and are successfully stealing money. Fraudsters have found yet another way to do this. A new case of online fraud has come to light, according to a report by news agency ANI. An Indian Air Force (IAF) squadron leader has been allegedly defrauded by an online fraudster by a whopping Rs.75,000! The fraudster posed as an Army official. As per the FIR registered by squadron leader Ravinder Yadav,  the officer had put his sofa set for sale on an online website. He later received a call from one Sahil, who posed as an army Jawan. Sahil told the Air Force official that he had seen the advertisement and wanted to buy the sofa set. It was agreed that the payment would be completed via Paytm.

According to the FIR, Yadav said he did not have a Paytm account and, hence, redirected Sahil to his relative Ruchi Yadav's account for starting the transaction. However, later, Yadav found the buyer had defrauded an amount of Rs 75,000 in three transactions (15,000+30,000+30,000) from the bank account of Ruchi! 

The incident had taken place on April 20 earlier this year. Police took cognizance of the case on July 23 and started an investigation into the matter.

This is not the first time when a case of online fraud has been reported. Fintech companies and commercial banks regularly urge users to follow best practices to save themselves from fraudsters. Yes, people who do online money transactions must not do many things that may lead to loss.

What You must not do

1. Never carry out or agree to carry out a financial transaction on someone's say so. Especially if you do not know that person.

2. Never entertain people who ask for details about your bank or fintech company's accounts. 

3. Do not reveal your username or password of your account to any person.

4. Have separate accounts for public dealings and your savings. Have very small amounts of money in accounts that you deal with while doing online transactions.

5. Never download any app just because someone on phone is urging you to do so. Always check veracity of apps that you download. A huge number of fraud apps are available and it is of utmost importance that you do not download them as they may steal all your secret data that is on your smartphone. 

6. Never talk much to telecallers who call you with filmsy offers regarding credit cards, loans, bank discounts, or even Paytm cashback. Report them to your bank or fintech company.

7.  Never download any app on your smartphone when asked by an unknown person - be it on call or even in person. Always verify any request made by any unknown person with your bank - either by visiting the bank branch or calling the customer care.