Woman lost over 3 lakh in Amazon job scam, here is how to stay safe  

A 20-year-old woman registered a complaint at Delhi police station after she lost Rs 3.15 lakh to fraudsters who were offering her a fake job at Amazon. Here is what happened and how you can stay safe.

A woman lost over 3 lakh in Amazon job scam.

By Ankita Garg: Cybercrime is currently on rise as several cases are being reported online, especially related to online job frauds. The latest one is of Amazon job scam. A woman lost more than Rs 3 lakh because of a fake Amazon job, and over 100 people have been cheated in the last five months, according to a report from PTI. Here is what happened and how you can stay safe from such job scams.

A 20-year-old woman registered a complaint at Delhi police station after she lost Rs 3.15 lakh to fraudsters. The cited source says that the woman received a message from an international number and the fraudster posed as an Amazon executive to offer her a job. The scammer obtained contact details of the victim via platforms such as naukri.com and Shine.com.

A fake Amazon website was created by fraudsters with the help of some software developers and the links for job offers were sent to several victims. Some of the people, who fell for the job scam, got hired too. They were asked to work on some fake tasks as well to make it look real. Later, the fraudster asked the victims to create a virtual wallet, after which their money was stolen, according to a report by Indian Express. The 20-year-old woman also lost her money in the same way.

The cheated money was then transferred to various banks. The report revealed that four people have been arrested by the Delhi police team and it was discovered that a total of 3.5 crore transactions were done by the scammers as over 100 people were cheated by the same scheme.

Online job scam: How to stay safe?

-It is important to be aware of how a job process works. Big tech companies like Amazon would never send a message in an unprofessional manner or ask you to do unusual things. Even if you fall for the fake offer, do keep in mind that there is a long process of hiring. You need to go through several interviews or connect with HR for a lot of things. If you are skeptical about any job offer, then share it with other people whom you trust and find out if it is real.

-The job process is properly followed up in an email, and not on a call or WhatsApp, or SMS. People can also double check the name of the HR or the poser on LinkedIn. If you are well-connected in the industry, it is way easier to find out or know about the authenticity of a job offer.

-A company would never ask you to create a virtual wallet and transfer your money into it for any reason. It is pretty simple. You are doing a job to earn money and a company will never ask for your money in the name of virtual wallet or anything.

– If you feel that a job offer is too good to be true, trust your instincts. People can also try and connect with an official HR of the company on LinkedIn if they feel the job offer could be unreal.

-Before trusting a job offer, do your research and learn everything about the company, so that you won’t regret it later.