Scammers are currently exploiting the whole coronavirus situation in India by asking random people for fake donations over in Singapore. The scammers reportedly ask for donations for the purpose of “purchasing oxygen concentrator machines” according to the police.
WhatsApp Scammers are Taking Advantage of India
The story by The Star notes that scammers have reportedly been using certain hacked WhatsApp accounts that reportedly belonged to friends of their targets in order to raise funds for purchasing machines in donation to India. The police gave this report on May 7 warning people of this ongoing fraud that exploits the real people suffering in the pandemic.
Medical oxygen, which is mostly used in the whole treatment of coronavirus patients, is now in really short supply in India as the country reportedly tries to fight a deadly second wave of the virus. With the scarce supply in India, the scammers are trying to exploit the whole situation by providing a realistic agenda.
Scam Fakes Oxygen Tank Purchases
Oxygen concentrators are reportedly used in order to produce highly oxygenated air. This would reportedly help people that have only low oxygen levels in their blood. This is a pretty common situation that happens mostly to coronavirus patients. The situation in India is now pretty delicate and scammers are also taking advantage of this situation to make money from kind hearts that are only trying to donate to save India.
The police stated that the scammers would actually emphasise the urgency of the whole issue and provide the victims with just a bank account number for them to fund transfer. The scammers would then claim that the bank account would belong to the supplier.
Victims Left in the Air
After the victim suddenly transfers the money, the scammers would then become reportedly uncontactable. The victims will only then realize that they have been scammed only then or when they are eventually told that their friend’s very own WhatsApp account has actually been hacked.
In order to avoid the scams, the public should be aware of unusual requests over WhatsApp, despite if they were really sent by contacts, according to the police. There hasn’t been an official report regarding how many people became victims or how much the scammers were able to steal from the victims.
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How to Avoid Scammers
The Straits Times reports that people should try verifying whether or not the request is really legitimate. The first way is to check with the contact offline or through voice verification. It is important to try to get in touch with the contact and talk about something only both of you know.
It was also stated that people should never send money to people that they have either not met or have not yet verified if it is really them that is contacting the person. The article also notes that it is important to report any particular unauthorized transactions directly to their bank accounts.
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Written by Urian B.
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