Internet scams posing as online games are luring online shoppers with false promises of rewards and prizes. Stay clear of them with Flipkart’s helpful guide to safe online shopping. Play it safe!
Recently, many Flipkart customers have reported an internet scam circulated on the online messaging service Whatsapp that goes by the name ‘Spin the Lucky Wheel’. Sites such as this, running fake online games, misappropriate the Flipkart name in the web address or URL. Using false promises of offers and rewards, these sites lure and mislead internet users into playing fake online games for prizes.
On playing this ‘game’, users are assigned a randomly generated reward (usually, the image shown is of a product available for sale on Flipkart or other e-commerce sites). To proceed to the next step, users are urged to share the game with 10 contacts on Whatsapp as a countdown timer ticks away, adding to the pressure. Users are made to part with sensitive personal information such as their email address and mobile phone number. The website makes these steps mandatory for those who play the game to obtain the promised rewards. Needless to say, the wait for the prizes can be excruciatingly long, for they are never delivered. Many unsuspecting and impressionable customers have fallen prey to this scam, believing it to be genuine.
Here are the facts: Flipkart has no association with websites running fake online games or offers. Flipkart has not authorized such games or sponsored the rewards they offer. You are cautioned not to click on these links or share sensitive information with these websites. You are also advised not to forward or share these links.
How to spot fake online games
You may receive an email, text message or Whatsapp forward that appears to be a marketing campaign from Flipkart. These may be sent from an unknown number or from a familiar number. If they are forwarded by people in your contacts list or address book. there is a chance that they have received it as a forward from someone else. The message may contain an image and/or a text link that invites you to click.
How to identify suspicious links
First, check the URL carefully before you click. Does it have flipkart.com in it? Or does it have the word ‘flipkart’ cleverly placed to impersonate a Flipkart site?
What an authentic Flipkart URL looks like:
https://www.flipkart.com/
https://stories.flipkart.com
http://flipkartcareers.com/
In these cases, Flipkart is part of the domain name. These are authentic Flipkart sites.
What a fake URL that impersonates Flipkart looks like:
http://flipkart.bigbillionday-offer.com
As you can see, the word flipkart is separated from the domain name bigbillionday-offer.com. This is not an authorized Flipkart site.
Scam artists put a lot of effort to make fake online games look genuine and authentic, not to mention attractive. The Spin The Lucky Wheel scam is designed to appear as an online marketing campaign or game. Be suspicious of offers that sound unbelievable and check back with Flipkart before you play or share data with these websites.
At Flipkart, we are determined to offer our customers a safe and worry-free shopping experience of the highest quality. If you are looking for Flipkart deals, don’t look anywhere else. Visit the Flipkart desktop site on your computer or mobile phone. Even better, download the Flipkart mobile app.
Bookmark the Safe Shopping section of Flipkart Stories and sign up for browser notifications to be updated of new content in this section. Please share this post with your friends and family to ensure that they do not fall victim to online scams.
Cartoon by Balraj K N for Flipkart Stories
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