Man duped of Rs 29 lakh for buying iPhone on Instagram; how to avoid such scams

While scrolling through Instagram, we often come across incredible deals and discounts on expensive phones and other products and if you don’t pay enough attention and click on links, there are high chances of you falling prey to the scam.

In one such instance, a man from Delhi was defrauded of Rs 29 lakh when he was trying to buy iPhones on the social media platform. The victim filed a complaint with the authorities, which resulted in the filing of a fraud case against the anonymous criminals, reported 91mobiles.com.

According to the official complaint, the man named Vikas Katiyar, who lives in Delhi's Ghitorni told police that iPhones with hefty discounts were so tempting that he couldn’t stop himself from trying to buy from an Instagram page. 

“After checking the page and to make sure that the page is genuine, he also contacted the old buyers from one other Instagram page and they confirmed that the page is genuine, they have received the phones without any issue, and he can buy from there. Later on February 6, 2023, Katiyar made a call to a particular mobile number in order to purchase an iPhone,” the report mentioned the complainant as saying.

Post that, a group of fraudsters asked Katiyar to make an advance payment of 30 percent of the phone's actual price, which is Rs 28,000. He also got several calls from the fraudsters with different numbers where they claimed that they needed money for custom clearance and other taxes. Katiyar then transferred a total of Rs 28,69,50 to several bank accounts, hoping that after clearance, his phone will be delivered. However, he is yet to receive the iPhone. An FIR has been filed in Delhi’s South West District’s Cyber Police station.

People must be very careful with too good to be true offers on social media. 

Check a few steps to avoid such scams:

• Firstly, users need to check the authenticity of the website before falling prey to that eyecandy offers
• One should also avoid buying expensive products from a random Instagram page
• Never make an online payment for that product you choose to buy
• Try the cash on delivery option and if that is not there, then you should not go ahead with purchase

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