Online shoppers Alert, warned about pay gift cards

UT News Service | Shillong, August 6: East Khasi Hills district police has cautioned against scammers using Amazon Pay Gift Cards to dupe people. With the increased usage of online services by the public due to the lockdown, duping cases have also seen an increase in Shillong, Superintendent of Police of the district, Sylvester Nongtnger said in a statement on Wednesday.

He said that scammers have used Amazon, a common platform for online shopping, as a tool to cheat the general public. The Amazon Pay Gift Cards are pre-paid gift instruments that can be redeemed for purchasing items on Amazon.in and its partner merchants. They are offered in three types, i.e. Physical, e-Gift Cards (E-mail & Share via link), and Anytime Gifts.

“In recent cases, relating to Amazon Pay Gift Card, the scammers were sending e-mails to the staff of institutions, departments, organizations, etc., masquerading as Head of the Institutions, Departments, etc., asking for the staff (victims) to buy Amazon Pay Gift Cards and to send them to a legitimate-looking email address, only for victims to later realize that they have been duped by the scammers,” the statement said.

Urging people not to respond to such email addresses the police have asked people to approach the nearest Police Station / Police Beat House / Police Out Post or call the Police Helpline Number – 100 for any query before entertaining such requests.