Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 24 Keralam police on Thursday warned people against online fraudsters selling fake tickets through social media for the India-West Indies first ODI, scheduled to be played here at the Greenfield Stadium on Sunday.
Cyber police said fraudsters were using fake Instagram pages and posts to advertise cricket tickets at attractive prices and direct interested buyers to WhatsApp to make bookings.
The scammers collect personal details such as names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses through fake booking forms before seeking a small advance payment to reserve tickets, police said in a statement.
After sending fake order confirmation messages, they demand additional payments on the pretext of GST, refundable charges, verification fees and processing charges, promising that the money would be returned, it said.
The fraudsters later seek more money on various pretexts, including “transaction processing” and “refund pending”, and threaten that the ticket and initial payment would be forfeited if the victim refuses to pay, police said.
Police advised people not to blindly trust cricket or other sports ticket advertisements on social media and to verify ticket availability and booking details only through official platforms and organisers’ announcements.
People should not transfer money directly to WhatsApp numbers provided in social media advertisements or share OTPs, UPI PINs, bank details or card details with anyone, they said.
Repeated demands for money after an initial small payment and requests citing GST, refundable, processing or verification charges should be treated as warning signs, police said.
People who come across such fake advertisements or fall victim to such fraud should report them to the cyber police through helpline 1930 or the cybercrime.gov.in website, preferably within one hour, police said.
(PTI News)
