Be alert of an online trap!

Gone were the days when robbers used to rob or steal money or valuable items from homes, physically intimidating and instilling fear by showing weapons. Now we are in the modern era, or an advanced technology age. Where we stay connected to the internet, which is called cyberspace, in this space, there lie a handful of evil-minded skilled people who are inventing ideas on how to cheat or trick general people online.

An incident occurred to me. I returned home after dropping off my son at his school, parked the bike propping on its central stand, and ascended the staircase. When I was about to cross my home threshold. My wife was waiting for me desperately in excitement with an overwhelming urge to share with me.

She told me that there was a great offer on the "Dmart" which is an online shopping site that caught her attention on Facebook. There was a timer on to show the limited time to purchase.

These were the list of items:-

5 Kg Basmati rice.

10 Kh flour.

5 liters of mustard oil.

5 liters of refined oil

Only in INR 699/-

Generally, these grocery items are part of each kitchen hence, it was an enticing offer. She handed her phone to me and I clicked on that link. It landed me on a new page to enter my complete address to deliver the items and then to the payment gateway to select an option to pay. I selected the option to pay via a credit card. Further, it directed me to download a .apk file to install an app. I was acting on the fly because the timer was ticking to be over soon. I installed it promptly, and after entering the card details, I received an OTP to process the payment. I completed the entire process and got a message on my phone " The transaction of INR 18000/- was denied as there was no money on my credit card". It startled me and opened my mind. I oriented myself first. While doing it on the fly the way this site was directing me was creating doubt, but there was a limited time that blocked my mind.

To know the reality of this site I visited the Facebook site and investigated the page. I noticed that this page was being promoted. It was created recently. It triggered more curiosity in my mind to dig some more layers down. I got to know that there are two people owning this FB page. One is from Pakistan and another from Vietnam.

Now everything was crystal clear that this was a kind of online trap and thank God I was saved.

The learning is that we must not do anything on the fly. I should have checked it meticulously before proceeding. We must not hanker after the cheap offer. On the social site, anyone can create any advertisement with any reputed company's name. We must not turn a blind eye to any activity on the social site.