Comments
Even as Indian ecommerce players gear up for their annual festival sale this October, several hackers and cybercriminals are getting ready to steal consumer data including their payment card details.
Fraudulent websites are trying to entice consumers with fake offers and discounts. These offers are being circulated via email, SMS or WhatsApp messages.
BusinessLine wrote a mail to Flipkart with screenshots of offers by one such site that was enticing consumers with whopping 98 per cent discounts on mobiles and other electronics in pretext of giving a sneak-peak of the Bengaluru-based company's upcoming Big Billion Day.
Flipkart, however, has released a statement today urging its consumers to not to trust these websites and to not disclose any personal and financial information on the site.
"Clicking on these fraudulent websites might put the user’s computer as well as their personal and financial information in danger. We appeal to our customers and all online shoppers in India to exercise caution while interacting with websites that may claim to offer discounts on behalf of Flipkart," the company said adding that these sites have been created with the sole intention of misleading and cheating buyers, by misappropriating the "familiar and trustworthy name of Flipkart."
Flipkart further added that it puts utmost importance on the safety and security of online transactions on its marketplaces as well as for the larger e-commerce ecosystem.
"We believe it is our responsibility to safeguard the rights and reputations of our customers as well as our sellers and employees including logistics personnel," it added.
Flipkart along with several ecommerce players are gearing up for the Durga Puja and Diwali in October and November with big budget ads and campaigns this year.
Globally, several cybercriminals have managed to breach the systems of e-tailers targeting software vulnerabilities in order to extract card details, according to a report by FireEye adding that more than a dozen types of malware were found last year that target point-of-sale systems, the electronic cash registers the process payments at many retailers.
Comments
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.