As Dhanteras 2025 is looming near, cybercrime specialists are raising an alarm among the Indians regarding a brand new form of fraud emptying pockets at an alarming rate the swap and send back scam.
This is a brilliant strategy that aims at attacking gold buyers in the most active hours of the shopping season in the country, where millions are spending on jewelry, coins, and ornaments to bring in good fortune and prosperity.
The fraud is amazingly easy to execute.
Fraudsters obtain gold from legitimate jewelers or over the internet and finally insert the counterfeits in the original gold and send it back to the jeweler to get their money back or to acquire different gold.
The number of sellers who do not pay attention to the swap because of the hype of sales during the holidays is huge and causes significant losses.
The police officers have already reported a number of complaints in such big cities as Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi, and Hyderabad.
The fake is usually gold of superior quality, which appears and feels like real gold and can resist a mere visual examination.
A top officer in charge of cybercrime said it was deliberate.
At Dhanteras, there is little checking, as there are rush orders and high volumes of transactions.
Cyber specialists are also of the opinion that the problem is being perpetuated by advertisements on social media and counterfeit e-commerce postings.
The scammers may fake their websites to look like reputed jewelers, giving them a deep discount when people get attracted to buy their products.
After the money is paid, the buyer is even given counterfeit goods or nothing at all.
There have also been coordinated refund scams reported by some jewelers in the meantime.
The stolen identities and various accounts are used by the fraudsters to place orders for high value gold products in large quantities, send back the fake products, and claim the refunds before disappearing.
Buyers are also advised to observe simple safety measures in order to remain safer:
- Never buy jewels that are not certified by jewelers or online shops that are not reputable.
- Verify purity and weight and BIS hallmark certification.
- Never contact strangers by big payments or without checks.
- Insist on video authentication or in store authentication of finalizing returns.
Jewelry associations have also requested sellers to make their return policies strict.
There are traders that are adopting anti tamper packaging and QR code tracking that ensure the authenticity of the returned product.
E commerce sites are also intervening. Most are turning to AI-specific fraud detection services to recognize any suspicious refund or lost match of returned goods.
Experts in this industry believe that this type of proactive monitoring may help to prevent such incidents by almost 60% during the festivity seasons.
Financial regulators too have not been left behind.
There are certain public notices by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Consumer Affairs ministry that encourage consumers to be vigilant when applying their high value digital purchases during the season.
With the hype of Dhanteras nearing, it is the time to start creating awareness because it is the best defense.
Customers are advised to question each transaction and notify the police of existing suspicious behaviors.
To get official advice or make a complaint regarding fraud on the internet, go to the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal.
- Also Read: GTA 6 Release Sale: Former Rockstar developer announces that they will not issue more postponements
To make sure that this Dhanteras is an occasion to celebrate and not to deceive, it is always wise to keep up with and be on the alert.
