‘There is a new scam in the market’: Scammer impersonates IIT alum, asks his colleague to buy ₹10,000 gift cards

A techie shared that after receiving a fraudulent email, his colleague contacted him on WhatsApp to verify. That’s when they discovered the scam.

An IIT grad took to LinkedIn to warn others about a “new scam in the market”. He claimed that a scammer impersonating him tried to dupe his colleague of thousands of rupees by asking him to buy gift cards costing ₹10,000 each. The post has sparked a discussion on cybersecurity.

The IIT grad noted that the scammer was “professional” in their language. (LinkedIn/Aaditya Aanand, Pexels)

Aaditya Aanand wrote that his teammate Anupam received an email that seemed to be from Aanand. However, upon closer look, Anupam felt something was off about the email and decided to contact Aanand via WhatsApp. The email that Anupam received said, "Why haven't you responded to my last email?"

Soon they realised that it was a scam and decided to play along. “The person posing as me claimed that I was planning to surprise our team with Apple Gift Cards worth ₹10,000 each as a reward. He asked Anupam to quickly buy 5-6 gift cards using his personal email and share the code with them, promising that he would be reimbursed,” Aanand wrote.

What Aanand found interesting—and scary—was that the “scammer created a sense of urgency while sounding professional.” To warn others, he also shared screenshots of email communication between Anupam and the scammer.

“Please don't fall for these things. Share with people, make them more aware. Scammers are everywhere. Their target is everyone, especially in a digital world where data privacy is a myth and people's emails and mobile numbers are all public,” the techie wrote and concluded his post.

Where to report cybercrime incidents?

If you receive fraudulent messages, calls, or emails or have been a victim of cybercrime, you can report the incident at The National Cyber Crime Reporting portal at https://cybercrime.gov.in/

It is a government initiative under which complainants or victims can report cybercrime incidents online. To complain, you will need an account on the portal, which you can create using a mobile phone number and email ID.

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