Campus Journalist 
-By Ahmeda Iqra J
OnLine exchange or OLX is an online application and website that helps in buying exchanging and selling products, goods and services which have been already used by a person. It connects different people from all over the world. It is a free web or application which can be used by anyone. One can use OLX from their computer, laptop, mobile phones, tablets etc… It is widely used by everyone and it is very easy to use. By using OLX we can purchase or buy anything which we want at a cheaper price compared to market price because they sell second hand products. It is even used for exchanging the products. But the most important question is whether OLX is safe or not? There are various types of frauds which are taking place daily and we should be aware of such tricks and frauds. Some of the OLX frauds are mentioned below.
1. QR code
2. Advance payments
3. Fake identity
4. Duplicate Products
QR Code:
QR code is a type of code which is used for scanning and transferring money from one person’s account to another person’s account. It gives quick access to websites and it is completely free to use. The fraudster can trick a person easily and it is important to be aware of such scans. One if the example of QR code scam is mentioned below. Example, A person want to sell a laptop worth Rs.30,000 in Rs.18,000 and he has uploaded everything in OLX and is ready to sell. After seeing this sale, another person wants to buy it and asks for details. After clarifying everything, the seller sends his QR code to transfer the money. The buyer transfers the money but it doesn’t come to the seller’s account. He even screenshots him the transaction which he had done. Then the buyer again sends a different QR code so that they seller can correctly transfer the money. Again the buyer transfers the money and it doesn’t go into seller accounts. The buyer transferred Rs.36,000 totally to the seller but the seller said he has not received any amount. Here the seller scammed the buyer by giving wrong QR code, not only once but twice and hence the buyer lost his money. This is known as QR code scam.
Advance Payments:
Advance payment is a type of payment where the buyer transfers a sum of money to seller. The buyer should first get to know about all the details about the product and then he should pay some amount of money in advance. The buyer can get scammed by the seller easily. When the buyer is in desperate need of the product, then the seller will ask for him to pay some advance money like, if the price he is selling is Rs.10,000 then he may ask the buyer to pay Rs.4,000 in advance aa a guarantee. After getting the amount, he will boycott and will not send the advance money or the product and the buyer got scammed and lost Rs.4,000. This type of fraud is known as Advance payment fraud.
Fake Identity:
Fake identity is defined as an identity of a person which is false and not true. A person uses fake identity to trick and scam so that they can gain benefits from it. For example, A buyer may use fake identity by saying they are from national institution and they may show some fake proof so that the seller van believe them. They will use this fake identity and will gain the trust of the seller and will manipulate the seller into hiving them in less amount because they serve our country. This type of fraud takes place almost everywhere. It may get difficult for the people to identify real id and fake id.
Duplicate Products:
A duplicate product is a type of product where the seller scams and tricks the buyer. After getting to know everything about the product, the buyer buys the product but the seller send a similar looking duplicate product instead if the original product which he had put in his OLX account.
Conclusion:
While buying a product, we should get full information about the type of the product and we should personally meet the seller because it is more safe and we should hand over the money personally and we should check the product immediately. By doing this, we can avoid being scammed or trucked by the seller or fraudster.
What are the indications that a buyer is a potential fraud?
